There Is No Such Thing As a National HolidaySunday, January 15, 2006 I have not spent much time researching this one. I'll do that another day. For the purposes of this post I really do not need much context around the issue. I really do not rant on my blog and this is not going to be a full blown rant either. Let's call it a "mini-rant." On Monday we have one of several National Holidays. Here is the list of National holidays that I found according to one source: New Year's Day Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday President's Day Memorial Day Flag Day Independence Day Labor Day Veteran's Day Thanksgiving Christmas In the small print below the list there was a clarification: "Strictly speaking, the United States has no national holidays since each state designates holidays through the legislative process or by executive order. The United States Congress can legally designate holidays for federal employees and for the District of Columbia. The holidays listed above represent those federal holidays which are also observed by the majority of states." Then I looked up "Federal�" holidays. These are holidays for federal employees, the only 10 holidays that are set by law and can be found in USC Title 5 Section 6103. There are specific rules about Election Day that I will not cover. New Year's Day Martin Luther King's Birthday Washington's Birthday Memorial Day Independence Day Labor Day Columbus Day Veterans Day Thanksgiving Christmas Day (Election Day) Despite the legal definition or the implied "National" orientation of a holiday, the fact remains; many of us do not work for companies or live in states that observe all of the Federal holidays. Some companies recognize the more elusive Columbus Day, Washington's Birthday (it is not officially called President's day) or even the newer Martin Luther King's Birthday. Others pick and choose what they declare as calendar year holidays corporately. Then there are many companies who have "floating" holidays. You pick the ones you want to observe. The deal is that we all think tomorrow is a National Holiday and it is not. It is a Federal Holiday that some states and corporations observe and others do not. The same is for the next so called holiday that is coming up, Washington's birthday. What a joke? Why not Andrew Jackson's birthday? Or Harry Truman's birthday or Bill Clinton's birthday? Why just the first president? Now I am convinced that I am going to have to dig deeper on this whole stupid topic. I just can't make any sense of it all. We have a series of holidays that are handled in a myriad of ways. Why can't we have real holidays where everyone observes the holiday? For those people who must work, such as Health Care workers or Air Traffic Controllers, they should get an alternate day off if they could not observe the holiday on the actual day. This whole holiday thing in the U.S. is a joke. Those of you who have off on Monday or may be taking a "floating holiday" think about those who will be at their desk. Enjoy the day, not the holiday! posted at 1/15/2006 08:39:00 AM |
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8 Comments:
Perhaps, the way the general attitudes of American towards national/federal holidays is indicative of the way Americans feel towards work and leisure, although this attitude is changing as can be seen in the myriad of ways states/companies/people treat these days.
I just found out that in my new state...a holiday was added to appease those who did not agree with Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday being recognized as a holiday. It's called Lee/Jackson day. So how about that one? The schools have it on their calendar for Friday and had the day OFF.
No worries here mate. My company doesnt take off much for holidays, and doesn't pay for them either.
I'll be front and center at my desk.
Boss - Actually, we USED to celebrate both Lincoln's and Washington's birhday in Massachusetts - we combined them into a date in between which we designated President's Day (so the whole thing MIGHT have been our bright idea).
We are holiday-happy here. We had MLK day on his actual birthday (which is today) long before the Federal Monday holiday. We have Patriot's Day (April 18 - Redcoasts at Concord) and Evacuation Day (Thank HEAVENS Washington chose to bomb the Brits from Dorchester Heights on St. Patrick's Day!).
We are are almost European in our attitude - a legal holiday every month but August, and I'm sure they are working on that! - and wonder why we are regarded as non-productive and lose jobs to other states.
My company isn't progressive enough to give us the day off. The last place I worked at was though. Go figure.
God Bless the Law Firms
My library stays open on all these holidays -- even though all the other government stuff is closed. It is a pain for us, but we get lots of families in that do actually have the day off. We did up a nice book display for Martin Luther King Day. That's about all the holiday meant at the public library. And the sad thing is, most of the books didn't even go out.
the bloke, I agree. I think it is indicative of the way we feel in America.
ida's mommy, good grief. I am not shocked though.
Dave, lol. Reminds me of Scrooge when he grumbles about having to pay wages for a day off.
Peter, how does a conservative cope in Mass.???? :)
Tired, great example. I was around the mall on Monday and it was crowded. Were there MLK sales? I did not have off, I took the day off.
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