2017 Federal Holidays

What paid federal holidays can you expect in 2017? We’ve provided the list below.

*January 1, 2017 (the legal public holiday for New Year’s Day), falls on a Sunday. For most Federal employees, Monday, January 2, will be treated as a holiday for pay and leave purposes. (See section 3(a) of Executive order 11582, February 11, 1971.)

** This holiday is designated as “Washington’s Birthday” in section 6103(a) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Though other institutions such as state and local governments and private businesses may use other names, it is our policy to always refer to holidays by the names designated in the law.

*** November 11, 2017 (the legal public holiday for Veterans Day), falls on a Saturday. For most Federal employees, Friday, November 10, will be treated as a holiday for pay and leave purposes. (See 5 U.S.C. 6103(b).)

Inauguration Day

OPM also notes that federal employees in the Washington, DC area get an extra holiday for inauguration day that other federal workers outside of the capitol region do not get:

Inauguration Day, January 20, 2017, falls on a Friday. An employee who works in the District of Columbia, Montgomery or Prince George’s Counties in Maryland, Arlington or Fairfax Counties in Virginia, or the cities of Alexandria or Fairfax in Virginia, and who is regularly scheduled to perform non-overtime work on Inauguration Day, is entitled to a holiday. (See 5 U.S.C. 6103(c).) There is no in-lieu-of holiday for employees who are not regularly scheduled to work on Inauguration Day.