As we reported last week, a petition was started on the We the People website asking the White House to give federal employees an extra day off at Thanksgiving.
According to its author, morale among the federal workforce is “at an all time low,” so the extra day off is necessary to make federal workers “feel appreciated.” For details, see Federal Employees Petition White House for an Extra Paid Holiday at Thanksgiving.
So how is the petition faring? Are federal employees likely to get the day off on Friday to go shopping?
If they do, it won’t be because of this petition. In order to get a response from the White House, a petition has to get at least 100,000 responses. Note also that this is only to get a response, not necessarily to have the request in the petition granted.
As of the time of this writing, the petition has a little less than 7,000 responses, far under the 100,000 it must have by the December 6 deadline (or in reality, by Thanksgiving since it was asking for an extra day off at that holiday).
If federal employees do end up getting another day off, it won’t be because of this petition.
Our advice? You should plan on taking leave this Friday if you want to have the day off since the White House won’t be offering any kind of a response to this petition.
We wish all of our readers a happy Thanksgiving holiday!
