Q: I started working for a local business recently. Even before Thanksgiving, my new employer started asking everyone to put in more hours to handle all the extra customers during the Christmas season. The money is appreciated, but I’m already exhausted. The business is going to be open for limited hours on Christmas, and I just found out my employer expects me (and two other new hires) to work it. I had been planning to spend the entire day with my family, up north. Not only am I going to lose time with my family, I’m not even getting any overtime. If Christmas is a national holiday, aren’t employers required to give workers the day off or at least overtime?
A: We get this question every year. The bad news for workers is that the answer is — no. National holidays are not, in fact, national. The law does not require employers to give workers the day off, or any kind of bonus, overtime or hardship pay for working that day. In fact, 23% of the civilian workforce (those not employed by a federal, state or local government, or the armed forces) receives no paid holidays, according to a 2018 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only 60% of the country’s lowest-paid workers (those in the bottom 25%) received paid holidays. Those at the very bottom rung of the wage ladder (the lowest 10%) did even worse: Only 46% had access to paid holidays.
Most large employers, however, either give workers the day off (with pay) or a bonus of some kind. Although workers in some positions...
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