David Goldman/AP file photo
Not All Federal Employees Have the Day After Christmas Off
Postal Service workers and some in security-related jobs will have to report on Dec. 26.
Through snow, rain, heat, gloom of night -- and federal holidays?
The U.S. Postal Service takes pride in its employees’ ability to deliver mail no matter the circumstances. This year, that will include on Dec. 26, when nearly all other federal employees will be enjoying an extra vacation day.
The day off was a gift from President Obama, allowing most federal employees to take a four-day weekend around Christmas. No other federal agency received a specific carve-out in Obama’s executive order.
“All executive branch departments and agencies of the federal government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, Dec. 26, 2014, the day after Christmas Day,” the order stated.
However, because USPS is operates entirely independently from the rest of the executive branch -- it receives no federal appropriations aside from being reimbursed for services -- the order does not apply to the agency’s more than 500,000 employees.
A notice from Office of Personnel Management Director Katherine Archuleta directed postal employees to contact their supervisors for applicability of the extra day off. A statement on the Postal Service’s website said the agency will shutter on Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, as it does for all federal holidays. “All Post Offices will be open and regular mail delivery will resume on Friday, Dec. 26,” according to the notice. A USPS spokesman confirmed Dec. 26 is a normal workday for postal employees.
Postal management has said additional days off should not apply to its workforce, as each day of closure costs the agency $175 million. Unions representing postal employees have previously vowed to bring bonus vacation day equity to their members, but have so far been stymied in their efforts.
USPS employees will not be the only feds working on Friday; under Obama’s order, agency heads can determine that certain offices and installations must remain open and their employees must report for duty “for reasons of national security, defense or other public need.”