Trump’s 5-Day Christmas Weekend Won’t Extend to Most US Workers (1)

President Donald Trump’s executive order giving federal workers extra days off on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 this year has prompted a question for bosses at private employers across the US: Do we get the days off, too?

Short answer: No. Private employers aren’t legally mandated to give employees time off for federal holidays. While major holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving and July Fourth are granted by most employers, the practice is discretionary. Other holidays, like Juneteenth and Veterans Day, are less commonly observed.

Presidents traditionally give federal workers an extra day off before or after Christmas if Dec. 25 falls on a Tuesday or Thursday. Trump’s order closes government offices on both the Wednesday before Christmas Day and the Friday after, creating a five-day weekend for federal employees. Certain workers can still be told to report in for reasons of national security.

In the private sector, about 11% of employers granted staff the full week off between Christmas and New Year’s in 2024, according to a survey of 625 organizations across sectors by the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans.

Following Trump’s announcement, both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq Inc. said Dec. 26 will remain a regular full trading day. Markets will close at 1 p.m. on Dec. 24 as previously planned.

Trump’s order only covers the Christmas holiday period for this year. More permanent federal holidays are typically instated by Congress. The latest came in 2021, when Juneteenth, a day commemorating the end of slavery in the US, was added to the calendar.

President Trump complained in a post on Juneteenth earlier this year that US workers have too many holidays. “Too many non-working holidays in America. It is costing our Country $BILLIONS OF DOLLARS to keep all of these businesses closed,” he wrote. “The workers don’t want it either! Soon we’ll end up having a holiday for every once working day of the year.”

With Christmas Eve less than a week away, it’s unlikely that most large companies will change their holiday staffing plans now. But, just as they adopted Juneteenth in greater numbers after the federal government declared it a holiday, it’s possible they will follow Trump’s lead and grant Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 off in the future.

(Updates story with Trump comment on federal holidays.)

To contact the author of this story:
Jo Constantz in New York at jconstantz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Heather Landy at hlandy1@bloomberg.net

Nikki Waller

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