I know that the Federal and State holiday for New Years this year is Jan 2nd 2006 as New Years is on Sunday. My company has decided to give us Friday the 30th of December off. I would naturally much prefer having the legal holiday off. Can an employer decide to substitute any day they wish for the legal holiday?

If by legal holiday you mean a holiday that an employer is required under the law to give you, there is no such thing. Federal holidays apply only to Federal employees. Private employers do not have to provide any holidays at all.

Your employer is free to give you any day they choose for the holiday. Assuming you work for a private employer, they are also free to not give you the holiday at all.

thanks for info. I assumed that was the case, but was hoping it was otherwise.

Let's say that in an employee handbook the employer has specified that the employee will be paid for 6 holidays (New Year's, Labor Day, July 4th, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas), the employee's regular workweek is Monday thru Friday.... Christmas '05 and New Years '06 both fall on Sunday, does the employer then have to give the employee Monday off to compensate for "paid holiday" they have agreed to in their employee manual? The reason I ask is that I found a site that states :
A. The following days shall be holidays:
1. Sunday of each week.
2. January 1, New Years Day
3. Third Monday in January, "Martin luther King, Jr./Civil Rights Day"
4. Third Monday In February, "Lincoln/Washington Presidents' Day"
5. Second Sunday in May, "Mothers' Day"
6. Last Monday in May, "Memorial Day"
7. Third Sunday in June, "Fathers' Day"
8. July 4, "Independence Day"
9. First Sunday in August, "American Family Day"
10. First Monday in September, "Labor Day"
11. September 17, "Constitution Commemoration Day"
12. Second Monday in October, "Columbus Day"
13. November 11, "Veterans' Day"
14. Fourth Thursday in November, "Thanksgiving Day"
15 December 25, "Christmas Day"
"When any of the holidays emunerated in subsection A falls on a Sunday, the following Monday shall be observed as the holiday with the exception of the holidays emunerated in subsection A, paragraphs 1,5,7,9,and 11"

I found this info in the Arizona State Legislature Website and no where does it state that this is intended for Federal employee's.
Thanks,
ArizonaGirl

AZGirl, I think that only applies to AZ state government employees. It's followed by a section that public offices and courts shall be closed on legal holidays.

Federal employees are entitled to the holidays the Federal government decides to offer.

State employees are entitled to the holidays the state decides to offer.

Employees of private employers are entitled to the holidays the employer decides to offer.

Did you stop to think how many businesses HAVE to be open on holidays? Hotels, hospitals, airlines, railroads, taxi services, some retail stores, some municipal agencies such as police or fire departments, catalogue retailers...THOSE employees are working. Do you really want the entire world to shut down for holidays? You'd find it mighty inconvenient.

cbg, I am not saying anything about being inconvenienced.... I am only asking what the law is in regards to an employer saying one thing in their employee handbook and then doing something different. I would apologize to you but as far as I can tell, I have done nothing to apologize for....apparently you did not read or understand the question that I was asking.

AZGirl, most handbooks contain plenty of disclaimers that allow companies to change the rules as needed. It's quite possible that the language you cited could be construed to say that Christmas is a paid holiday only when it falls on a normal workday.

If I misunderstood your question, then I apologize. But we get this question about six or eight times before and after EVERY holiday - we just finished answering them for Thanksgiving and the Christmas ones start. If it wasn't for the holiday falling on the weekend, we'd still be getting the question in one form or another. It gets really, really frustrating continuing to answer the same question over and over and over when the answer has not changed in a number of years. I don't know why the webmaster bothers to include a Search feature since it's clear no one uses it.