Federal law (5 U.S.C. 6103) establishes the following public holidays for Federal employees. Please note that most Federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule. For these employees, when a holiday falls on a nonworkday -- Saturday or Sunday -- the holiday usually is observed on Monday (if the holiday falls on Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).
Tuesday, January 1 | New Year’s Day |
Monday, January 21 | Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. |
Monday, February 18* | Washington’s Birthday |
Monday, May 27 | Memorial Day |
Thursday, July 4 | Independence Day |
Monday, September 2 | Labor Day |
Monday, October 14 | Columbus Day |
Monday, November 11 | Veterans Day |
Thursday, November 28 | Thanksgiving Day |
Wednesday, December 25 | Christmas Day |
NOTE: Inauguration Day, January 20, 2013, falls on a Sunday. Therefore, the next succeeding day selected for the public observance of the inauguration of the President is a legal public holiday for an employee who works in the District of Columbia, Montgomery or Prince George's Counties in Maryland, Arlington or Fairfax Counties in Virginia, or the cities of Alexandria or Fairfax in Virginia, and who is regularly scheduled to perform nonovertime work on Inauguration Day. (See 5 U.S.C. 6103(c).) There is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees who are not regularly scheduled to work on Inauguration Day. In addition, employees for whom January 21, 2013, is the legal public holiday for the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., are not entitled to an in-lieu-of holiday for Inauguration Day if the day selected for the public observance of the inauguration of the President is January 21, 2013.
* This holiday is designated as "Washington’s Birthday" in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.