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Hello everyone, Ian Smith here with
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fedsmith.com bringing you some breaking
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news that just dropped. President Trump
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has given federal employees not one but
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two two extra days off at Christmas this
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year. There will be holidays now on
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Christmas Eve and the day after
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Christmas. So federal employees will
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have three total days off around
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Christmas and counting the weekend
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that's a five-day weekend. So, the
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president was feeling very generous
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today, apparently. And in addition to
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that, the 2026 federal pay raise is now
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finalized. That will be a 1%
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acrosstheboard raise with no locality
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pay. I'm not going to get into details
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of that in this video. I've done a
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separate video on it. And we've got
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articles on fedsmith.com about all of
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this stuff. So, please visit our website
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and check everything out. But I am going
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to go over the details here quickly of
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the the news about the extra Christmas
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holidays. I've given you the headline.
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You get two extra holidays, but the
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president did this by issuing an
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executive order that dropped today. And
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today is Thursday, December 18th. And
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according to the executive order, it
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states, quote, "All executive
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departments and agencies of the federal
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government shall be closed and their
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employees excused from duty on
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Wednesday, December 24th, 2025, and
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Friday, December 26, 2025, the day
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before and the day following Christmas
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The heads of executive departments and
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agencies may determine that certain
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offices and installations of their
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organizations or parts thereof must
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remain open and that certain employees
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must report for duty on December 24th or
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or both for reasons of national security
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defense or other public need.
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In conjunction with these extra
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holidays, the Office of Personnel
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Management has issued guidance for heads
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of agencies and federal employees
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regarding how um this will all work for
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pay and leave purposes. And according to
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OPM, they note that for pay and leave
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purposes, this period, that's the
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holidays, will be treated as falling
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within the scope of statutes and
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executive orders governing holidays for
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federal employees. I'll be sure to leave
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a link in the description of this video
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to an article we have on this with more
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information as well as OPM's guidance.
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And somebody asked in a comment
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recently, "What happens if I've
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scheduled uh vacation time and we get an
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extra holiday?" Well, um if you've if
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you happen to have scheduled Christmas
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Eve andor the day after Christmas off,
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according to OPM's guidance, you get the
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day off and you don't have to take
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leave. So nothing changes and you're not
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going to lose the vacation time. Now,
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honestly, it's not a huge shock that
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federal employees are getting an extra
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holiday at Christmas. We had an article
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not too long ago on our site, and I did
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a video on it as well, uh, in which we
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analyzed history and how many times
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presidents have given federal employees
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extra days off at Christmas and on what
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particular days, you know, depending on
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the day of the week in which the holiday
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fell. And the odds look pretty good that
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federal employees would would get an
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extra holiday this year. That's because
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President Trump has done this quite a
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few times in the past in his first term.
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He did it three times in his first term.
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Plus, the day after Christmas is on a
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Friday this year, and that usually
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bodess well based on past precedent for
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what other presidents have done. What is
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very surprising though is to get two
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extra holidays. that to my knowledge has
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never been done by a president before.
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So it's quite rare and unprecedented.
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But be that as it may, this is still
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excellent news for federal employees and
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makes a very nice early Christmas gift.
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So this is a big day for federal
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employees. Uh like I said, you're
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getting two extra days off at Christmas.
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You'll now have a five-day weekend. And
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next year's pay raise has been announced
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at the same time as well. And this is
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just a fun factoid here. Um, this is the
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second year in a row that federal
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employees have gotten an extra day off
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at Christmas. In 2024,
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President Biden gave federal employees
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Christmas Eve off as well. And in
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President Trump in his first term, he
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did this three times. Federal employees
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got extra holidays on Christmas Eve in
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2018, 2019, and 2020. Thank you for
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watching and have a merry Christmas,
