5 U.S.C. 6103(b): The “In Lieu Of” Holiday Rule Explained

Federal law provides for eleven public holidays for its employees, ensuring paid time off for these designated dates. These holidays include New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, and Christmas Day. A specific federal statute governs the treatment of pay and leave when one of these holidays happens to fall on an employee’s regularly scheduled day off. This provision ensures that all eligible employees receive the benefit of the paid holiday, regardless of their individual work schedule.

The “In Lieu Of” Holiday Rule

The governing principle for a holiday falling on a non-workday is found in 5 U.S.C. 6103. This statute establishes what is commonly called an “in lieu of” holiday. The purpose of this rule is to provide a substitute day off for an employee who would otherwise miss out on the paid holiday benefit because it occurred on their weekend or another scheduled non-workday.

For purposes of pay and leave, a different day is treated as the legal public holiday. This substitute day is determined based on the employee’s specific work schedule, shifting the holiday observance to a day the employee would have otherwise worked. The specific day designated as the “in lieu of” holiday depends on whether the employee follows a standard or non-standard work schedule.

This legal framework prevents an inequity where some employees would receive fewer paid days off per year than others simply because of their work schedule. For example, without this rule, an employee whose day off is Friday would lose the benefit of a holiday that falls on a Friday. The “in lieu of” provision corrects this potential disparity by assigning an alternate holiday.

Application for Standard Work Schedules

For the majority of federal employees, a standard work schedule consists of an eight-hour workday, Monday through Friday. The rules for applying an “in lieu of” holiday are straightforward for this group. The regulations provide two clear directives that address when a designated public holiday falls on a weekend, ensuring an employee does not lose the paid day off.

When a holiday falls on a Saturday, the “in lieu of” holiday is observed on the preceding Friday. For instance, if July 4th occurs on a Saturday, a federal employee on a standard schedule will have Friday, July 3rd, as their paid holiday. This effectively shifts the holiday forward to the employee’s last scheduled workday of the week.

Conversely, if a holiday falls on a Sunday, the paid holiday is observed on the following Monday. As an example, if Christmas Day, December 25th, falls on a Sunday, the employee’s paid holiday is observed on Monday, December 26th.

Application for Non-Standard Work Schedules

For full-time federal employees on schedules that do not follow the traditional Monday-to-Friday model, the rules for “in lieu of” holidays are different. This includes those on Compressed Work Schedules (CWS) or Flexible Work Schedules (FWS).

For these full-time employees, the “in lieu of” holiday is generally the workday immediately preceding the non-workday on which the holiday falls. For example, an employee on a compressed schedule with Fridays off would observe a holiday that falls on Friday on the preceding Thursday. The primary exception to this “look-back” rule is if the holiday falls on a Sunday that is a non-workday; in that case, the “in lieu of” day is the following Monday.

Part-time employees are not entitled to an “in lieu of” holiday and only receive paid holiday leave when a holiday falls on a day they are scheduled to work. If an agency closes on a day that is an “in lieu of” holiday for full-time employees, it may grant administrative leave to part-time employees who were scheduled to work that day. Employees on non-standard schedules should confirm the specific application of these rules with their agency’s human resources department.