December 26, 2014 — otherwise known as the day after Christmas — is now considered an official holiday for federal employees.
An executive order issued by President Obama on Friday allows federal employees to now have that day off in addition to Christmas Day.
The wording used in the executive order provided a detailed explanation of the departments and agencies that would be closed on December 26.
“All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 2014, the day after Christmas Day.”
The Washington Post states that exceptions could still be made , however, in the case of such public needs as defense and national security.
Even though President Obama has not confirmed or denied it, his decision to issue the executive order to turn December 26 into a holiday for federal employees could have something to do with an online White House petition encouraging him to do so.
According to the online petition , one major benefit for making December 26 an official holiday for federal employees is the opportunity to boost employee morale — especially considering everything that federal employees have dealt with in recent years.
“Federal Employees have dealt with pay freezes and furloughs over the past few years. Giving federal employees an extra holiday on Dec. 26th, 2014 would be a good gesture to improve morale of the federal workforce.”
The online petition also mentions that employees are being forced to take leave or Leave Without Pay ( LWOP ) simply because their bases are already being shut down on that particular day, a pattern which has also been repeated in prior years.
Within the petition, past holiday arrangements that have been enforced by both President Obama and former President George W. Bush were also mentioned — including the two times that President Bush made December 26 holidays as well.
President George W. Bush
- December 24, 2001 – Full-Day
- December 24, 2002 – Half-Day
- December 26, 2003 – Full-Day
- December 24, 2007 – Full-Day
- December 26, 2008 – Full-Day
President Barack Obama
- December 24, 2009 – Half-Day
- December 24, 2012 – Full-Day
The concluding statement of the online petition urged President Obama to issue an executive order, which is exactly what he did.
According to the many different posts on Twitter using December 26 as a hash tag, there are quite a few people that already viewed December 26 as a holiday somewhat since the day after Christmas is also their birthday.
BIRTHDAY count down ; #December26
— ?Dec26? (@DANde_Lionn) December 5, 2014
Christmas only got me thinking about my bday #december26 baby!
— december 26th (@boojiebre) December 5, 2014
Three weeks ’til Christmas… three weeks and one day ’til my birthday. #december26
— Super Professor (@Super_Professor) December 4, 2014
President Obama issuing an executive order to turn December 26, 2014 into a holiday provides many people with at least one more thing to celebrate this month.
