I am a salaried professional. I work in the medical field in a small office, 40+ hours a week and have Mondays off. When there is a Monday holiday and the office is closed do not receive additional compensation of any type.
My significant other and I have a difference of opinion as to whether or not there should be some form of compensation such as another day off, since many legal holidays are Mondays. I am posting this in what I believe to be an impartial fashion to get the opinion of fellow dopers.
Your input is greatly appreciated.
Some businesses give paid holidays, and some give unpaid. I don’t know what the federal laws are, but I don’t think private businesses have to even give any holidays off, let alone paid time off for them. It is generally a perk that employers offer in order to attract better talent.
Holidays are just that, days off from work. Some businesses have salaried employees and some have hourly employees and some have both. Frequently hourly employees have to work the holiday for the same business that gives office employees e.g. the day off with pay. It obviously is not fair to have some work and some not work for the same pay. Thus holiday pay was established, to make up to those who work the holiday for the inconvenience of never being with their families to celebrate the holiday. Instead of 40 hours of pay they get an extra 8 (sometimes 12) to compensate for working when everyone else is off. If you are getting only 40 hours pay and working the holiday I would say you are getting screwed. Otherwise you are not.
I’m not working the holiday but no one else is either. My feeling is that if I am on salary, that’s it, suck it up. My significant other feels that it is not fair. I have more responsibility to the practice as a professional than someone who punches in and out. They don’t keep track of my hours because it is understood that I will work my scheduled time and more if necessary.
My daughter works in a business like that, and the people who have Monday as the day off don’t get additional compensation. The people who have Thursday off don’t get anything extra for Thanksgiving, and when Christmas or New Year’s Day is on someone’s weekly day off, there is nothing extra.
At least with Monday off you can have a three day weekend all the time and travel or do other things. Her day off is Wednesday, which means her week is cut up so there is a mid-week break, but I think Monday might be nicer.
I don’t understand why you should be compensated for a day you don’t work, simply because you’re not working it for a different reason than why you normally don’t work it.
I get tomorrow off for Veteran’s day since I don’t work Sundays, and if I were scheduled to be off on Mondays, I would get a day of holiday leave for every Monday holiday. That’s for two reasons- one is I’m a government employees and state law says we’re closed on Veteran’s day, and if Nov 11 is a Sunday , the holiday is moved to Monday. Second is the union contracts, (which affect me even though I’m not a union member) provide for holiday leave when a holiday falls on a regular day off.
But it’s only for those two reasons- lots of people don’t get paid for holidays falling on their day off. Lots of people don’t get paid holidays to begin with
It all hinges on “should,” and the reasons behind said “should.” It comes down to a matter of opinion. The only opinion that really counts, though, is that of the owner of the business – if you open your own business, you get to decide what should be and make it happen!
I work for a fairly large electronics company…salaried employee, nominally 40 hours M-F.
In addition to vacation days, we get certain holidays off. If one of the holidays - Christmas, New Years, 4th of July, etc - falls on a weekend, we get the Friday or Monday off instead.
This has been true at the past two companies I worked at, too.
Time off for various reasons is a benefit, and is part of your total compensation package.
I own a small business. Salaried people look at hourly people and envy their time and a half for overtime. Hourly people envy salaried people occasionally taking time off and still being paid the same as if they’d worked.
If you’re salaried, then you went into this job knowing:
How much you would be paid every month
What days you would or would not be working
(any other benefits you get as part of your salary package)
So you were offered X amount of money in order to work 4 days a week, Mondays off, with no additional days off for Holiday Monday’s (and whatever other terms apply.) That’s the deal. You decided to accept the terms.
I think you’re right, and there should be no expectation of additional time off on Holiday Mondays.
Abisha didn’t explain the situation fully (I am her SO). Two people (including Abisha) elected to work 10 hour days instead of 8 hour days and then get one day off during the week along with Saturday and Sunday. Abisha’s day off is Monday and the other person’s day is Wednesday. Because holiday’s are frequently celebrated on Monday and everyone is also+ off on those days, Abisha works 10 hours all week while the majority of the staff work 8, and then she gets the luxury of having that Holiday Monday off…along with everyone else.
The whole purpose of her electing to work 10 hour days is to get a day off during the week. Her employer counting her day off that she worked 2 extra hours for every day on a holiday that everyone else is getting off hardly seems “fair.”
She posted here about it because getting other opinions may sway her to bring it up to her employer. Next time I “bother” to discuss something with my SO, I’ll make sure to check with you first, Rhiannon.
It seems that her employer has a policy of “If a holiday falls on your day off, you don’t get an additional day off for the holiday”. If it mattered to her, she should have discussed this issue with her employer at the point where she decided to work 10 hour days and take Mondays ( the most common day for holidays to be celebrated)) off. Perhaps what Abisha should do is switch her day off to Tuesday or Thursday instead of Monday.
BTW, I don’t think there was anything incomplete about how Abisha explained it.
The “work forty hours in four days to get a day off” thing started while she was there. There really wasn’t a policy, just an idea that came to fruition. I don’t think anyone thought out the issue of what happens if a holiday falls on a day off, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Abisha is the only one that realized it was an issue because it doesn’t affect anyone else. I know it’s as simple as asking and seeing how it goes over, but she’s concerned that it will make her look like she’s asking for too much. She’s purposely working two extra hours on her days on to get an “extra” day off.
I think some of the opinions in this thread may have been different if the posters understood that she elected to work more hours on her days on than her fellow employees for the sole purpose of getting a day off for it during the week.
The policy I’m referring to has nothing to do with "work forty hours in four days to get a day off’. I’m referring to what happens when a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, days when apparently the entire staff is off and the office is closed. Most employers do not provide any additional compensation for such holidays , and if Abisha’s employer doesn’t do so for holidays falling on Saturdays and Sundays there’s no reason to think they will provide additional compensation for holidays falling on Mondays. That’s why I suggested she switch her day off to something other than Monday - unless having a three-day weekend every weekend is worth more to her than getting a few additional holidays off.
I mean , really , how many Mondays are you even talking about - Thanksgiving is always on Thursday, Election Day is always Tuesday,and Independence day, Christmas and New Years are different days every year. So the always Monday holidays could only be MLK Day, Presidents Day, Columbus Day, Memorial Day, Labor Day and Veterans Day. It’s a maximum of six holidays that only fall on Monday, and more likely three or four (since most people don’t get them all off) . I’d give up three holidays ( or even six)in order to get a three-day weekend every week - even if it meant I worked 40 hours in the remaining four days. Because right now I can’t do that - my regular schedule must be five days a week.
