Juneteenth Is A Federal Holiday Now, But What That Means For Workers Varies Widely

AdminJune 18, 2021

30 Less than a minute

Mannequins in a clothing shop are posed to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2020. The city was marking Juneteenth, the holiday celebrating the day in 1865 that enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas, learned they had been freed from bondage, more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Juneteenth is now a federal holiday.

Day off? Extra pay? Or business as usual? Federal workers usually get holidays off, but the short notice on Juneteenth has created some exceptions. And companies aren’t required to observe holidays.

(Image credit: Maya Alleruzzo/AP)