MLK Day -- is it, or has it been, a holiday for you (work/school)?

In My Humble Opinion
1

It is for me, and has been for pretty much my entire life, but I’m curious who doesn’t get it off at work, and didn’t/doesn’t in school.

I started school in NYC in 1976 and don’t remember ever not having it off in school, including through college where I went to a private university in NYC. Following graduation, I didn’t get it off in 1993/1994 when I worked for a software engineering firm in NJ; then I did get it off for 1995-1997 when I worked at a global bank that observed the Federal Reserve Bank holiday calendar; then wasn’t going to get it off in 1998 after changing jobs to another firm, but it was made an Exchange holiday for the NYSE that year (which my firm observed), so ever since, I have gotten it as a day off everywhere I’ve worked.

Well, while making plans for the long weekend, I found out that a good friend of mine, who now works for a well-known and still thriving dot-com after 10+ years of working in IT for various financial related firms, has to go in to work for MLK Day for the first time in his life. It made me wonder who else might be in the same boat.

As I understand it, all banks and financial exchanges are closed for MLK Day. Public schools and universities are all closed for the day (as it is a state holiday in all 50 states). Private employers and schools are not bound by these legal holidays, but generally follow suit for other major holidays, including ones with historically political overtones, such as Labor Day.

According to the Wikipedia entry, the third Monday of January was made a Federal holiday in 1986, with several southern states resisting in various ways, but in 2000 South Carolina became the last State to make it a state holiday. That was also the year that two other states that formerly marked the day as a holiday, but one that did not explicitly or uniquely honor Dr. King, revised the name to “Martin Luther King, Jr. Day”. (In Utah, it had been called “Human Rights Day”, and in Virginia, rather incongruously, Lee-Jackson-King Day, placing Dr. King in a trifecta amongst two Civil War Confederate generals.)

As for how generally widespread it is to get the day off, it says: Overall, in 2007, 33% of employers gave employees the day off, while 33% of large employers over 1,000 and 32% of smaller employers gave time off. The observance is most popular amongst nonprofit organizations and least popular among factories and manufacturers. … Additionally, many schools and places of higher education are closed for classes; others remain open but may hold seminars or celebrations of Dr. King’s message.

So, who does/doesn’t get MLK Day off, and where do you work/what do you do? To set a common base for comparison, let’s limit this to people with salaried office type jobs (such as my friend and I have) – people working in retail or service roles are already commonly working on holidays to serve/sell to holiday crowds, and the same is true for consultants, tradesmen, people working at construction sites, etc.

But I’m also interested in hearing about people’s experiences in school, either from present students or people who were in school from around 1970 (Dr. King having been assassinated in 1968). Do you or did you have the day of from school for MLK Day? Was there a transition you remember?

2

I started first grade in 1968. I don’t remember if we had a school holiday on that day before the establishment of MLK day or not. I vaguely recall Lee’s birthday being a holiday, but my memory isn’t strong enough to say one way or the other. Today they are both celebrated on the same holiday - it’s possible that there wasn’t a ‘transition’ per se, but that the holiday just gained an extra name.

I don’t remember ever working for a private employer which took the day off. The banks are the only private employer I can think of which does so.

Since the State takes the day off, most public employers here take the day off as well (usually go by the State holiday schedule).

3

Never. I used to work at a newspaper, and now I work at a hospital. We never close.

4

It wasn’t a holiday at my private college. None of the Monday holidays were.

5

The only time it was a holiday for me was when I was working for an educational publishing company. Other than that, I believe I always work it.

We provide 24/7 support to our client, so we take holidays when they’re not around.

6

In Virginia for a while we had Lee-Jackson-King Day. Yes, that’s Confederate General Robert E. Lee, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson, and…Martin Luther King. :rolleyes:

Governor Gilmore proposed splitting the holidays up, and we now have Lee-Jackson Day on a Friday and Martin Luther King Jr. day on Monday.

7

No.

8

I work in a clinic that’s part of a medical center (hospital and other facilities), and we’re open that day. People are regularly surprised that we’re open on Good Friday, Veterans’ Day, Presidents’ Day, the Friday after New Year’s Day 2009 (or any other random Friday after a holiday), Columbus Day, and so on. If I worked in the hospital proper I’d be another of those “we never close” employees.

My building does close for New Year’s Day (not Eve), Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day (not Eve). My department and many others tend to close unofficially on the day after Thanksgiving but you have to spend one of your days off to do that. We have a lot of Paid Time Off days so we can take vacation/sick days/other holidays out of those.

I did have it off at my last clinic job but I worked as part of a state university and they shut down the clinic building that day (but not the hospital) due to how the jobs there worked.

9

I went to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Experimental Laboratory School for K-5, so obviously we got the day off. :slight_smile: (Actually, all the public schools got the day off where I grew up.) I don’t remember whether school was closed when I was in college or grad school.

Of my most recent 3 employers, one was closed that day (it’s a financial institution), another made it an optional holiday (employees could take the day off, or use it as a vacation day at another time of the year), and my current employer (a medium-sized law firm) gives non-lawyers a choice of MLK Day or President’s Day off.

10

My kids have the day off from school and my workplace takes it as a holiday. I work for a social services research center connected with a hospital.

11

This year, as tends to be the case every so often ;), my birthday once again falls on MLK day. So, clearly, Monday is the most holy of holidays. :smiley:

That said, I’ve been a student for the last. . . oh, 18 years? So, I always had the day off. Now, I’m a teacher, so I definitely get the day off.

12

I get the day off this year for the first time in a while (high school?) I don’t remember the last time I had it off so it’s kind of weird. It not quire a real holiday though it is an optional floating holiday, which mean we can either take it off or work and take a extra day of vacation later.

My company is based in Birmingham so I think that has a lot to do with it.

13

No. Or at least, not intentionally. This year break happens to end on the 20th, but last year it ended on the 14th. The only holidays we get off are Columbus Day, Thanksgiving Week, Winter Month, Spring Week, and almost the entirety of summer. No additional days.

14

I work for local government, and we vote on what holidays we want each year… except for MLK Day. The Board of County Commissioners don’t trust us to honor the day by voting for it, so they make it mandatory. Not that I’m complaining.

15

I have always worked in non-government related industry, so never.

16

I work for a state university, so I get it off. My husband works for a private university and does not. When I worked for state government, we also got it off.

I got it off starting in junior high, I think. In college, semester started the Tuesday after the holiday.

17

The stock market is closed. While the company is open, I want nothing to do with working market holidays.

18

It’s a government holiday so schools and government agencies get it off.

19

U.S. Bank Holiday. So it’s a day off from work.

Not that I won’t be there anyways, to catch up on some audit requests and other random items. But I get an extra day to take off whenever I want later on because I’m working it, so that’s something.

20

Retail banking is closed. For people like me who support non-retail banking and enterprise technology infrastructure, it’s been just a regular work day. (Someone has to keep the ATMs and point-of-sale processing working for all of those sales!)

That is changing - next year, we will shut down completely for MLK day.