2025 Federal Holidays | FedSmith.com (2024)

Federal employees will have 11 federal holidays in 2025, but it is also a unique year with respect to the number of federal holidays.

In a typical year, there are 11 federal holidays recognized by the government that federal employees get off with pay; however, 2025 is a presidential inauguration year. Normally this means federal employees in the Washington, DC area get an extra paid holiday, but this year, Inauguration Day falls on Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday, so there is only one paid federal holiday that day in 2025, even for DC area federal employees scheduled to work on Monday, January 20, 2025. According to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM):

If an Inauguration Day on January 21st is already designated as a legal holiday under 5 U.S.C. 6103 (Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. – 3rd Monday in January), no additional holiday is provided. In this case, employees will receive a holiday under the normal rules that apply to the Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., holiday.

Inauguration day is granted as a holiday to help reduce the inevitable traffic congestion that permeates the DC region for the inauguration of the next president and to faciliate local attendance of the event which is why it is only granted to federal employees who work in the DC region.

As the Office of Personnel Management stated in guidance for the 2021 inauguration year, “Federal employees who report to their duty station in the downtown Washington, DC area and its vicinity on January 19 and 20 should expect possible commuting delays and travel disruptions due to road closures, mass transit changes, motorcades, and the establishment of security perimeters.”

Most federal employees work on a Monday through Friday schedule, so for these employees, if a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, it is usually observed on Monday (when the holiday is on a Sunday) or Friday (if the holiday falls on Saturday).

These are the official federal holidays for 2025:

*This holiday is designated as “Inauguration Day” in section 6103(c) of title 5 of the United States Code, which is the law that specifies holidays for Federal employees. Federal employees in the Washington, DC, area are entitled to a holiday on the day a President is inaugurated on January 20th for each fourth year after 1965.

**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.

Frequently Asked Questions About 2025 Federal Holidays for Federal Employees

The following is compiled from information from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM).

Pay for Federal Employees on 2025 Federal Holidays and Other Holidays

How does pay on federal holidays work for federal employees?

Federal employees who are excused from duty on a designated holiday (i.e., paid holiday time off) receive their rate of basic pay for the applicable number of holiday hours that are part of a holiday tour of duty. If a federal employee’s daily tour of duty includes parts of two calendar days, the tour commencing on the designated holiday is a holiday tour of duty, and, in the case of a full-day holiday, the entire tour is considered to be on the given holiday; however, in the case of a half-day holiday, only part of the tour will be considered to be on the given holiday, as described in the questions for Full-time Employees and Part-time Employees below.

How does holiday pay work for full-time federal employees?

Full-time federal employees who are not required to work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay for the applicable number of holiday hours—i.e., hours during the employee’s holiday tour of duty.

Standard (40-Hour/5-Day Week) Work Schedules

On a holiday, full-time federal employees under a standard work schedule are generally excused from 8 hours of non-overtime work, which are considered part of the 40-hour basic workweek. In the event the President issues anExecutive order granting a “half-day” holiday, a full-time employee on a standard work schedule is credited with 4 holiday hours.

Flexible Work Schedules

On a holiday, full-time federal employees under flexible work schedules are credited with 8 hours towards their 80-hour basic work requirement for the pay period. Federal employees under flexible work schedules are credited with 8 holiday hours even if they would otherwise work more hours on that day.

In the event the President issues anExecutive order granting a “half-day” holiday, a full-time employee on a flexible work schedule is credited with half the number of hours he or she was scheduled to work, not to exceed 4 hours. (See 5 U.S.C. 6124 and the definition of “basic work requirement” in 5 U.S.C. 6121(3).)

Compressed Work Schedules

On a holiday, full-time federal employees under compressed work schedules are generally excused from all of the non-overtime hours they would otherwise work on that day—that is, their “basic work requirement” hours.

For example, if a holiday falls on a 9- or 10-hour basic workday, the federal employee’s holiday is 9 or 10 hours, respectively. In the event the President issues an Executive Order granting a “half-day” holiday, a full-time employee on a compressed work schedule is entitled to basic pay for half the number of hours he or she would otherwise work on that day. (See 5 CFR 610.406(a).)

How does holiday pay work for part-time federal employees?

A part-time federal employee is entitled to a holiday when the employee’s daily tour of duty commences on a calendar holiday. This does not include overtime work.

Part-time federal employees are not entitled to an “in lieu of” holiday. Part-time employees who are excused from work on a holiday receive their rate of basic pay for the applicable number of holiday hours.

Standard (40-Hour/5-Day Week) Work Schedules

On a holiday, part-time federal employees under standard work schedules are generally excused from duty for the number of basic (non-overtime) hours they are regularly scheduled to work on that day, not to exceed 8 hours.

In the event the President issues an Executive order granting a “half-day” holiday, a part-time federal employee on a standard work schedule is excused from duty for half the number of hours in his or her basic (non-overtime) workday, not to exceed 4 hours.

Flexible Work Schedules

On a holiday, part-time federal employees under a flexible work schedule are generally excused from duty for the number of hours of their “basic work requirement” (i.e., non-overtime hours) on that day, not to exceed 8 hours. (See5 CFR 610.405.)

In the event the President issues an Executive order granting a “half-day” holiday, a part-time federal employee on a flexible work schedule is generally excused from duty for half the number of hours in his or her “basic work requirement” on that day, not to exceed 4 hours.

Compressed Work Schedules

On a holiday, part-time federal employees under a compressed work schedule are generally excused from all of the hours of their compressed work schedules (i.e., “basic work requirement”) on that day. (See5 CFR 610.406(b).)

In the event the President issues an Executive Order granting a “half-day” holiday, a part-time federal employee on a compressed work schedule is generally excused from half of the hours of his or her compressed work schedule on that day.

What is the effect of being in pay or non-pay status before or after the holiday?

Federal employees must be in a pay status or a paid time off status (i.e., leave, compensatory time off, compensatory time off for travel, or credit hours) on their scheduled workdays either before or after a holiday in order to be entitled to their regular pay for that day. The minimum time in a pay status required to receive regular paid holiday time off is one hour.

Federal employees in a non-pay status for the workdays immediately before and after a holiday may not receive compensation for that holiday.

Designation of 2025 Federal Holidays and Other Holidays for Federal Employees

What happens when a holiday falls on a weekend?

Full-time federal employees are entitled to what is known as an “in lieu of” holiday when a holiday falls on a non-workday. Part-time and intermittent employees are not entitled to an “in lieu of” holiday. If an agency’s office or facility is closed due to an “in lieu of” holiday for full-time employees, the agency may grant administrative leave to part-time employees who are otherwise scheduled to work on that day. (See 63 Comp. Gen. 306 (1984).)

The general rule is that the “in lieu of” holiday is the workday immediatelyprecedingthe non-workday on which the holiday fell. However, when the holiday falls on a Sunday non-workday (or, for an employee whose basic workweek includes Sunday, a non-workday (if any) designated as the employee’s in-lieu-of-Sunday non-workday), the “in lieu of” holiday is the workday immediatelyfollowingthe non-workday. (See5 U.S.C. 6103(b)and section 3 ofExecutive Order 11582, February 11, 1971.)

For employees whose basic workweek is Monday through Friday –

• If a holiday falls on aSaturday, theFridayimmediately before is the legal holiday.
• If a holiday falls on aSunday, the followingMondayis the legal holiday.

For employees whose basic workweek is other than Monday through Friday, but does not include Sunday –

• If a holiday falls on one of the employee’s regular non-workdays other than a Sunday, the employee’s workday immediately before that regular non-workday is the legal holiday.
• If a designated holiday falls on a Sunday (non-workday), the employee’s next workday is the legal holiday.

For federal employees whose basic workweek includes a Sunday, the agency may designate one of the employee’s non-workdays within this tour of duty as a deemed Sunday (i.e., designated “in lieu of” Sunday) to apply the “in lieu of” holiday rules. In these instances, the agency must determine which non-workday would be considered the employee’s deemed or “in lieu of” Sunday. If a holiday falls on the designated in-lieu-of-Sunday nonworkday, the next workday after that nonworkday will be the “in lieu of” holiday. For example, if an employee has a 5-day Thursday-Monday workweek with nonworkdays of Tuesday and Wednesday, the agency could designate the second nonworkday, Wednesday, as the deemed or “in lieu of” Sunday. If the November 11^thVeterans Day holiday fell on Wednesday, then the “in lieu of” holiday would be the next workday, which would be Thursday.

Thus, for employees whose basic workweek includes Sunday and who have a nonworkday designated as the deemed or “in lieu of” Sunday –

• If a holiday falls on a nonworkday that is not a deemed Sunday, the employee’s workday immediately before that regular nonworkday is the legal holiday.
• If a holiday falls on the employee’s deemed Sunday, the employee’s next workday is the legal holiday.

What if there are two or more holidays in one pay period?

Occasionally, two (or more) holidays will fall within the same pay period.

A full-time federal employee on a flexible work schedule is entitled to 8 hours of pay on a holiday when the employee does not work. (See5 U.S.C. 6124.) Therefore, when two (or more) 8-hour holidays fall within the same pay period, a full-time federal employee on a 5/4-9 flexible schedule (or other flexible schedules under which employees work more than 8 hours a day) must make arrangements to work extra hours during other regularly scheduled workdays (or take annual leave or use credit hours or compensatory time off) in order to fulfill the 80-hour biweekly work requirement.

What about holidays for federal employees outside of the United States?

For federal employees at duty posts outside the United States who are regularly scheduled to work on Monday, holidays designated by law to occur on Monday (i.e., Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr., Washington’s Birthday, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Columbus Day) are moved to the preceding Sunday.

This applies to federal employees whose basic workweek is Sunday through Thursday. It does not apply to employees whose basic workweek is Monday through Friday or Monday through Saturday.

This rule does not apply to “in lieu of” holidays. (See5 U.S.C. 6103(b)(3).)

What is the holiday tour of duty?

The tour of duty that begins on the calendar holiday is considered the holiday tour of duty. This applies to any federal employee (including part-time employees) who has a workday (regularly scheduled daily tour) that covers a portion of two calendar days (i.e., overlapping tour consisting of part of a holiday calendar day and part of a non-holiday calendar day). The entire tour of duty (i.e., scheduled workday) that began on the holiday will be treated as a holiday tour of duty. The holiday premium pay or paid holiday time off rules will be applied to the holiday tour of duty that commenced on the calendar holiday. (See section 5 ofExecutive Order 11582.)

If a federal employee has two basic workdays (i.e., two basic scheduled tours of duty) that overlap a single holiday, the employee is entitled to a holiday only for the tour of duty that begins on the holiday. The entire workday that begins on the holiday must be treated as if it fell on the holiday.

A tour of duty that commences on a non-holiday and ends on the holiday would not be a holiday tour of duty. This tour of duty shall be considered a non-holiday tour of duty. An employee is not entitled to receive holiday premium pay or paid holiday time off for any portion of the tour of duty that falls within the calendar holiday when the tour or duty (i.e., workday) did not commence (i.e., begin) on the holiday.