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Public Holidays and Bank Holidays for USA

The list of USA bank holidays, national holidays and public holidays for 2008, comes from the Q++ Worldwide Public Holidays Database, the professional source of international public holidays long trusted by the world's foremost diary publishers. The information on this page is provided for private, non-professional, use. Qualified professionals can license data for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, and beyond. For details, please visit our licensing information page or

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15 Dec 2008 (The White House-Washington DC) US President, George W. Bush, released an Executive Order, dated December 12, indicating that "All executive branch departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 2008, the day after Christmas Day". • 11 Nov 2007 (The New York Sun) Earlier in the week, New York City Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, jumped into a debate over whether Election Day should be a public holiday, saying that he was against it and that there is no excuse why city employees have an election Day public holiday. • 22 Aug 2007 (KPNX-12) U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) has introduced Bill S.1852 that would create a special holiday, Native American Heritage Day, honoring the contributions of Native Americans make, on the day after Thanksgiving. • 02 Jun 2007 Senator Clinton's 2005 Count Every Vote Act, mandating that election day be made a US federal public holiday, is getting a second lease in life with the recent introduction of comprehensive election reform legislation, the Ballot Integrity Act of 2007. • 28 Feb 2007 (Microsoft) Daylight saving time (DST) will start on March 11, 2007, which is three weeks earlier than usual, and it will end on November 4, 2007, which is one week later than usual. • 30 Dec 2006 (The Wall Street Journal) NYSE to Close in Ford's Honor. On Friday, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) joined the Nasdaq Stock Market in announcing it would close on Tuesday January 2nd, 2007, in observance of a national day of mourning for former President Gerald Ford. • 29 Dec 2006 President George W. Bush decreed a day of national mourning on Tuesday January 2, in hommage to former President Gerald Ford; all executive departments, independent organizations and other agencies of the Federal government to be closed. However, the closures do not apply to Department of State, the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, or other departments, independent establishments, and governmental agencies that have anything to do with National Security and essential functions. The NASDAQ, on whose Board of Directors former President Ford sat in 1999 and 2000, will be closed on Tuesday January 2. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has not made any announcements yet. • 27 Dec 2006 Indiana State Representatives have proposed a referendum to determine whether the state should be on Eastern or Central Time Zone. Another senator has filed a bill to require the governor to request the entire state be placed on Central Time. • 22 Nov 2006 Based on its criteria to use astronomical calculations for determining the dates of Islamic Lunar Calendar consistently throughout the year, the Fiqh Council of North America has decided that Eidul Adha in North America this year will be on Sunday, December 31, 2006 (Dhul Hijjah 10, 1427), since the first day of Dhul Hijjah will be Friday, December 22, 2006. •  • 07 Nov 2006 Today is Mid-Term Election Day in the US; this covers all 435 representatives, one third of the 100 senators, and 36 state governors. Although Election Day is not a public holiday in the US, 9 states have declared it as such, at the state level, and many schools are closed nationwide (polling stations are often setup in schools). • More News Updates For the full version of the summarized news items above, and older news items not displayed above, go to the USA public holidays news and updates page, or worldwide public holidays news and updates page, or subscribe to one of our free email newsletters.

Officially, the U.S. has no national public holidays. The president and congress may only declare public holidays for federal employees and for the District of Columbia. Each state decides which public holidays will be observed within its borders. Having said this, one can be fairly certain that very little business will get done on these listed holidays. When a public holiday for a Day of Mourning is declared, it only applies to these same employees. Banks, stores, businesses, state employees, and schools maintain their normal schedules, although they will fly their flags at half mast. Postal workers are federal employees and are closed on federal holidays. • 5 of these public holidays are always on Mondays while Thanksgiving is always on a Thursday. • The federal rules that apply to New Year's Day, Independence Day, Veterans' Day, and Christmas are as follows. If the holiday falls on a Saturday, then the preceding Friday is the day off work. If the holiday falls on a Sunday, then the federal holiday is the next Monday. This is only for federal employees. Individual states may do as they please. • Various states have other ways of dealing with these days, some of which are to move fixed-date public holidays to the following Monday, whenever it falls on a Saturday or a Sunday. Some places simply let employees take off a mutually agreed upon day at another time. Each state also may have some other holidays that it celebrates. • If New Year's Day is a Sunday, then most people other than federal employees will be at work on Monday, Jan. 2nd. Many people take the week off between Christmas and New Year's and so need to be back on Jan. 2. • Martin Luther King Day supplanted Lincoln's Birthday which used to be a week before Washington's Birthday. Although still legally called Washington's Birthday, it is usually referred to as Presidents' Day now. • Many people do work on Presidents' Day as most schools have a week off around that time. Columbus Day and Veterans' Day are also not strictly observed as public holidays. • Easter: Good Friday or Easter Monday are still holidays in several states, although not federally. Many stores that are usually open on Sundays, do not open on Easter. • The Friday after Thanksgiving is considered to be the biggest shopping day of the year and is a day that most workers not involved in the retail trade have off. This is also the most traveled time of the year for Americans, even more so than Christmas. It is wise to avoid having to travel from Wednesday through Sunday, unless it can't be helped. • Regardless of which days Christmas and New Year's fall on, many businesses tend to have at least limited hours between these holidays. • Muslim Dates and Holidays: On August 6, 2006, the ISNA has agreed to use astronomical calculation to predict the dates when Islamic months begin. A five-year calendar can now be found on their website . • In August of 2005 the United States Congress passed the Energy Policy Act which changes the start dates and the end dates of daylight saving time (DST). When this law goes into effect in 2007, DST will start three weeks earlier on March 11, 2007, and end one week later on November 4, 2007. These dates are referred to in this article as the Extended DST period. • Cesar Chavez's Birthday: The birthday of the civil rights activist, March 31, is observed in California and Texas, and is an optional public holiday in Arizona and Colorado. However, due to Chavez's longstanding and oft re-iterated emphasis on the importance of education, schools are usually not closed on the date of his birthday. • Other Sources of Information For information not covered here, see the following specialized websites: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (Washington) (USA central bank), ASI Hot Spots (security-related world events: terrorist threats, political strife, strikes, criminal activity, aviation incidents and health outbreaks), CIA World Factbook (maps, demographic and economic statistics), Copp Clark (financial markets' trading hours, settlement holidays and currency non-clearing days), and the IFES Election Guide (information covering upcoming elections, referenda, electoral structures and past voter participation).

Observance : Any entry in the Observance column indicates that, in USA, the holiday may be regional or non-official or limited to certain religious and/or linguistic groups, or begin at a time other than midnight. Note that religious holidays are included only if they are national public holidays, or if the national labour code has specific holiday allowances for employees of specific religions. For more information, see our pages on the religious calendars of the world.

Disclaimer
In many parts of the world, holidays are subject to arbitrary, last minute, changes by local authorities. While every effort has been made to present an accurate list of 2008 bank holidays, legal holidays and public holidays for USA, we cannot accept any responsibility for any error or omission in the data presented above. You are therefore advised to verify the above dates with the embassy or consulate of USA, before planning any trip to USA. For last-minute updates to worldwide public holidays, visit our blog or subscribe to our free email newsletters.