UNDERSTANDING STATE HOLIDAYS
TOPICS COVERED:
·
Holidays for State Government
·
Holidays for Institutions of Higher Learning
·
Proclaimed Holidays
·
Designated Holidays
o
Examples 1A and 1B – understanding when and how to designate a holiday
when the actual holiday falls on a weekend day
o
Examples 2A and 2B – understanding when and how to designate a holiday
when the actual holiday falls on a regular weekday
·
Civil Service Rules & Designated Holidays
·
Number of
·
Part-time Employees
State holidays are defined in RS 1:55(B):
B.
Legal holidays shall be observed by the departments of the state as
follows:
(1)(a)
Insofar as may be practicable in the administration of the government, no
employee shall work on New Year's Day, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday which shall be observed on the third Monday
of January of each year or in conjunction with the day of the federal
observance, Mardi Gras Day, Good Friday, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans'
Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, Inauguration Day once in every four years
in the city of Baton Rouge, or General Election Day every two years.
(b)
In addition, in the city court of Sulphur, the
second Monday in October, Christopher Columbus Day shall be a legal holiday.
(2)
Robert E. Lee Day, Washington's Birthday, National Memorial Day,
Confederate Memorial Day, and Huey P. Long Day shall be observed only in such
manner as the governor may proclaim, considering the pressure of the state's
business; however, not more than two such legal holidays shall be proclaimed in
any one year, one of which shall be National Memorial Day.
(3)
The governor, by executive proclamation, may authorize the observance of
such other holidays and half-holidays as he may deem in keeping with efficient
administration. Whenever, in accordance with this Paragraph, the governor
declares the Friday after Thanksgiving Day in November a holiday, such holiday
shall be designated as Acadian Day and shall be observed in commemoration of
the arrival in Louisiana of the Acadian people from the French colony Acadie following the ceding of that colony to England in
1713 and in recognition of the fact that much of the early economic and
political development of Louisiana is directly attributable to the industry of
the Acadian people, through cultivation of land, utilization of Louisiana's
natural resources, and the interest of the Acadian people in political
self-determination and American democracy.
(4)
When one or more holidays or half-holidays fall on a full-time employee's
regular day off, his holiday shall be the closest regularly scheduled workday
preceding or following the legal holiday, as designated by the head of the
agency. Employees whose regular work hours do not fall in the time period, or
fall only partly within the time period, of the holiday shall receive a number
of hours equivalent to the holiday through
compensatory time or overtime. Part-time employees having a regular work
schedule will receive benefits in a similar manner as full-time employees
except that their benefits will be prorated to the number of hours normally
worked.
(5)
When time off is declared in case of natural emergencies, only those
persons actually scheduled to work during the time period of the declaration
shall receive the time off. Those persons who are scheduled to work during
those hours and, because of the requirements of their job, do in fact work
shall be entitled to compensatory time for those hours.
Paragraphs
1(a) and (b) describe the statutory or legal holidays that do not require a
proclamation by the Governor.
Paragraph
2 describes the list of holidays from which the Governor may proclaim no more
than two (2) each year. It further
states that if the Governor proclaims one or two of these days, one of the proclaimed
holidays MUST be Memorial Day.
Paragraph
3 permits the Governor to proclaim other holidays when deemed to be in keeping
with the efficient administration of State government. This provision is generally used for days
such as the Friday following Thanksgiving (usually proclaimed as Acadian day),
and it has also been used for other days, such as those occasions when a
holiday falls on a Tuesday and the Governor deems it appropriate to grant
Monday off also.
Paragraph
4 deals with “designated” holidays”.
The concept of a “designated” holiday is also defined in Civil Service
Rule 1.13.01, and further discussion of “designated holidays” appears below.
Paragraph
5 provides requires that compensatory time be granted to those employees who
are required to work on an official holiday.
Note that there is no distinction made between exempt and non-exempt
employees. Overtime compensation (in
the form of cash or compensatory time) for work on holidays is covered in
Chapter 21 of the Civil Service rules.
HOLIDAYS FOR INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING
Institutions
of higher learning are not obligated to follow the holiday schedule prescribed
by the above or those proclaimed by the Governor. Instead, each institution is allowed by RS
1:55(F) to designate its own holiday schedule that will apply to its
employees:
F.
Each institution of higher education in
the state, through a representative appointed by it, shall designate a maximum
of fourteen legal holidays per calendar year to be observed by all of its
employees.
PROCLAIMED HOLIDAYS:
Proclaimed
holidays are ones that are granted at the discretion of the Governor under the
authority of RS 1:55(B)(2) and RS 1:55(B)(3).
These
include such days as Memorial Day and Acadian Day (the day after Thanksgiving). The Governor may also proclaim other days off
in addition to regular holidays. This
sometimes occurs when a regular major holiday such as Christmas, New Year’s Day
or Independence Day falls on a Tuesday and the Governor proclaims the preceding
Monday as a holiday in addition to the statutory holiday; or the statutory
holiday falls on a Thursday and the Governor proclaims Friday to be a holiday
in addition to the statutory holiday.
Please
note that proclaimed holidays are not the same as “designated” holidays. “Designated” holidays are described below,
and they occur only when a regular statutory or proclaimed holiday falls on an
employee’s regular day off from work.
DESIGNATED HOLIDAYS:
A designated holiday is granted when an
employee’s regular day off falls on the same day as the actual statutory
or proclaimed holiday. A designated
holiday, whether it is designated by the Governor or designated by the agency
head, does NOT apply to those employees whose regular workday falls on the actual
holiday.
When
a holiday falls on a weekend, the Governor will often issue a proclamation in
order to “designate” an alternate date, since MOST state employees are off on
weekends. This “designated” holiday will
not apply to those employees whose regular work schedules include weekend days
as regular work days. These employees
get only one holiday, the same as all other employees. These employees will NOT get the actual
statutory or proclaimed holiday PLUS the designated holiday; if the holiday
falls on their regular workday, they are entitled to the actual holiday day
only (not the alternate day designated).
When
a holiday falls on a regular weekday that is a workday for most employees, the
Governor generally does not issue anything, but each agency head who has employees whose days off fall during the week will
designate alternate holidays.
EXAMPLE 1:
In this example, the actual holiday is on a SUNDAY,
which is a regular day off for most employees. The Governor issues a proclamation which
designates MONDAY as the designated alternate holiday.
Situation 1A: This employee works a Monday through Friday
work schedule. The Sunday holiday is
designated by the Governor to be observed on MONDAY for those employees for
whom Sunday is a regular day off.
Therefore, this employee’s holiday is MONDAY:
a)
If the employee
is called in to work on Sunday, he/she is compensated according to normal
overtime provisions. This is his/her
normal day off, NOT the official state holiday for this employee. The official state holiday for this employee
is MONDAY.
b)
If this employee
is called in to work on Monday, he/she is compensated with “holiday” overtime
provisions.
Situation 1B: This employee works weekends, so Sunday is a
regular workday for the employee.
a)
Since Sunday is
a regular workday for this employee, the holiday for this employee is the
actual day, SUNDAY, not the designated Monday.
b)
If the employee
is called to work on Sunday, he/she is compensated with “holiday” overtime
provisions.
c)
If the
employee’s regular work schedule includes Monday as a regular work day, the
employee is obligated to report to work Monday, or take annual or compensatory
leave in order to be off.
d)
These employees
do not get an “additional” holiday. The
do not get the actual holiday PLUS the designated alternate. They receive one holiday “day”; and since
the actual holiday “day” falls on their regular day of work, then that is their
holiday, not the designated day.
EXAMPLE 2:
For
purposes of our example, we will assume that this holiday falls on a Monday,
which is a regular workday for MOST state employees. Usually, the Governor will not issue a
proclamation about this holiday since most employees will be able to observe
the holiday during their regular work schedule.
Instead, each agency head will designate an alternate date for those
agency employees whose work schedules include Monday as a regular day off. According to RS 1:55(B),
this will be the closest workday preceding or following the holiday.
Situation 2A: This employee works Tuesday through Saturday;
his days off are Sunday and Monday.
For this Monday holiday:
a) The appointing authority will designate Tuesday as
the “designated” holiday for this employee; it is the closest workday to the
actual holiday. Because the holiday for
most employees was the actual day (Monday), then this “designated” Tuesday
holiday will be a day when most other employees are reporting to work.
b) If this employee is called to work on Monday,
remember that this is his regular day off and NOT his holiday; he is
compensated according to normal overtime rules and regulations.
c)
If the employee
reports to work on Tuesday, remember that this is his “designated” holiday, and
so he is compensated with “holiday” overtime.
d) If the
employee does not come to work Tuesday, he/she does not take leave but has the
day off as a holiday.
e) This employee does NOT get two holidays (the regular
holiday plus the designated holiday).
He only gets the “designated” day since the actual holiday falls on his
regular day off.
Situation 2B: This employee works Monday through Friday and
has weekends off. For this Monday
holiday:
a)
The employee is
off on Monday because of the holiday.
b)
If the employee
is called to work Monday, he/she is compensated in accordance with “holiday”
overtime.
c)
If the employee
wants to be off on Tuesday, he/she must take leave since this is not a holiday
for the employee, but is a regular workday.
CIVIL SERVICE RULES AND DESIGNATED HOLIDAYS:
The
concept of “designated holiday” is defined in rule 1.13.01.
Civil
Service does not have a rule or policy that requires that an employee be given
a specific day as his/her “designated” holiday, although RS 1:55 states that
the designated holiday shall be the nearest work day.
In
some instances, the Governor may instruct appointing authorities to use one
specific day as the “designated” holiday to provide consistency as to the day
when agencies will be closed. As
discussed above, the Governor will most often issue a proclamation to designate
the alternate date when a holiday falls on a weekend day, which is a day that
most state employees are off.
For
those agencies that cannot close, the appointing authority will select “designated”
holidays as necessary according to the employee’s individual work schedule.
In
either case, it is important to remember that the appointing authority has
the right to determine whether or not an employee must work on the actual
holiday or the designated holiday.
The day worked that is the employee’s holiday (whether it is the actual
holiday or one designated for the employee) will be compensated in accordance
with “holiday” overtime. Employees who
refuse to work may be subject to disciplinary action.
NUMBER OF
Many
employees do not work a standard 8-hour workday. When determining how many holiday “hours” to
give to an employee, a good rule of thumb is to grant employees the same number
of hours of “holiday” that you would charge him leave for if he were to be
absent on that day during a non-holiday period.
If
an employee works four 10-hour days and is off on Friday, Saturday and Sunday,
then if a holiday falls on a FRIDAY (the employee’s regular day off), the
agency will “designate” Thursday as the employee’s holiday. Since the employee would be required to use
10 hours of leave to be off on a non-holiday Thursday, then the employee gets
10 hours off as his holiday. If this
employee reports to work all day, he gets overtime compensation in accordance
with Chapter 21 of the Civil Service rules.
This employee’s “designated” holiday will be a regular workday for other
employees in the agency whose work schedules include Friday as a regular work
day. The holiday for those employees
will be – Friday.
If
an employee works four 9-hour days and then works 4 hours on Fridays (for a
total of 40 hours in the week), and the holiday falls on Friday, the employee
is off on Friday along with everyone else.
This employee does NOT get extra holiday hours on another day. If the employee were to be absent on a
non-holiday Friday, he would be required to use four hours of leave; therefore,
this employee’s holiday is the four-hour day.
To
reduce controversy among employees, many agencies that allow their employees to
work varied work schedules will often require all employees to revert to a five
day, 8-hours a day work week for those weeks during which a holiday
occurs. Doing this provides each
full-time employee with the same number of holiday hours.
PART-TIME EMPLOYEES:
Part-time
employees are eligible for holidays (and designated holidays) based on the
number of hours scheduled. For
example, if a part-time employee works five 4-hour days each week, then he will
be on “holiday” for a 4-hour day. If a
part-time employee works different hours each day, then his/her “holiday” will
be the number of hours scheduled for the day on which the holiday (or
designated holiday) falls.