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Merry Christmas everyone. I'm Ian Smith
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with fedsmith.com. Can you believe it's
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Christmas already? It's uh it seems like
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it was just a month or so ago. I was
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just starting to enjoy the spring
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weather, the arrival of the warm weather
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and here we are. It's the end of 2025
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practically already. It's crazy. But
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speaking of Christmas, that's what I
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wanted to talk to you about today. uh
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what is the possibility of federal
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employees getting an extra holiday
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around Christmas this year? And I'll say
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right up front, I think it's a pretty
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good possibility. And I'm going to get
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into the details of why that is. Uh
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also, I wanted to mention up front, my
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colleague Ralph Smith wrote an excellent
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article on this that goes into a lot of
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details and I will be sure to leave the
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a link to that in the description so you
0:49
can check that out. But let's get into
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it. We looked at the last 80 or 85 years
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or so worth of data on this subject um
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to see what the leave patterns were
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around giving federal employees an extra
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holiday at Christmas. And there are a
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couple factors in particular that
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influence president's decisions on this.
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One is the day of the week that
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Christmas falls on and the other is a
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president's willingness to issue
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goodwill gestures gestures just in
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general. Um but presidents often grant a
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full holiday on Christmas Eve when it
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falls on a Monday or Tuesday. Midweek
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dates, however, like Wednesday,
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Thursday, it's it's much less likely.
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there have been 11 full day closures
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for Christmas Eve since 1940. None of
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those have been on a Wednesday.
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There have been 13 half-day closures for
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Christmas Eve since 1946,
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and only one of those was on a
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Wednesday, and that was President Truman
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So, that gives you some idea of the
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rarity of Wednesday. if Wednesday is
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Christmas Eve getting that off and in
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2025 Wednesday is Christmas Eve. So that
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doesn't look like such a great
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possibility. The day after Christmas,
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however, is another story. And that's
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the key for this year because the day
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after Christmas this year is on a
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Friday. And there has been a strong
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historical pattern of days off for when
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Christmas is on a Friday. There have
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been 10 instances of presidents giving
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federal employees a full day off for the
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day after Christmas since 1952.
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Now, what about President Trump? If you
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look back at his first term, it gives us
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some important clues about how he has
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handled this in the past and therefore
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what he might be more likely to do in
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his second term. He gave Christmas Eve
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off on three different occasions in
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2018, 2019, and 2020.
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And this was even when the calendar
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really didn't support it because in 2018
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Christmas Eve was on a Monday. 2019 it
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was on a Tuesday and in 2020 it was on a
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So that shows that he has a willingness
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to deviate from historical norms in
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terms of what other presidents have done
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on this. So the relevance to this year
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is that that may bode well for federal
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employees who are hoping to get an extra
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day off. Trump did it a lot in his first
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term and since uh the day after
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Christmas in particular is on a Friday,
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it seems like there's a higher
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possibility taking all of that into
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account. There is of course no way to
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predict the future, so don't make any
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extra vacation plans just yet. But
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again, based on past precedent, it does
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look like federal employees have a
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pretty good chance at seeing some extra
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time off around Christmas this year. If
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an extra holiday is announced, my guess
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is we'll know in the next couple of
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but uh stay tuned to FedSmith because if
4:06
and when any updates are announced on
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this, we will be posting them. So, be
4:10
sure to like and subscribe to our
4:11
channel here. Also, visit the
4:13
fedsmith.com website. You can visit that
4:16
anytime. We also have a free email list
4:18
on there to give you updates through
4:20
email. And also, be on the lookout for
4:24
the pay raise information for 2026.
4:27
That comes out mid to late December
4:29
every year. And again, FedSmith will
4:31
have all the details on that as soon as
4:34
Based on what we know right now, it
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looks like f most federal employees are
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probably going to get an average uh 1%
4:41
pay raise next year. But of course, like
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I said, as soon as information is
4:46
available, we will let you know. Thanks
4:49
for watching and merry Christmas,
