"In response to federal bashing: Federal employees do NOT get Christmas Eve or the day after Thanksgiving as holidays, like many people."

I work in the Third Branch. My office is closed on the above days and the day after Christmas this year, many of my friends in the Executive Branch also are off on those days.

http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/

Anonymous wrote:After two days off fro Sandy, I think there's no way this happens. Oh well, that's what leave is for.

Only DC area agencies got time off for Sandy and less than 20% of the federal workforce are in those areas.

In response to federal bashing: Federal employees do NOT get Christmas Eve or the day after Thanksgiving as holidays, like many people. All of the other jobs I had these were paid holidays. The feds get 10 paid holidays per year. When I worked in the private sector I got 14 (including the entire week between Christmas and New Year's Day). And federal employees with bachelor and master degrees are not paid comparable to private sector, they are paid LESS. However, those employees with a high school education make more than the private sector, in general.

You should all check your facts before you start stereotyping federal employees and bad mouthing entire groups of people. And federal employees don't get automatic bonuses - or a cost of living raise for the last two years (which costs an average employee $97,000 after 20 years which can never be replaced/earned). I find it's not necessary to bad mouth ignorance, you make themselves look bad enough. Get an education. And better yet, get it without federal student loans or federal university grants. Or drive on highways with no federal funding. Or bridges. Or figure out your own disaster relief. Or fight your own war. Or secure your own borders and coasts. Or get your own disability and retirement income and insurance (instead of Social Security). Deliver and pick up your own mail. Get your own unemployment insurance and income. Run your own schools and educate your own kids (now there's a scary thought!). Make the soldiers who risked their lives and sanity to fight for this country get their own medical services if they survive. Allow unlimited pollution of air, land and water. Allow poisioning of food. Cruelty to farm animals. Be your own judge and jury (Supreme Courts), your own police force (without federal funds), your own National Guard Services. Fend for yourselves and protect your own copyrights, logos and trade assets. Fight your own drug war, provide your own treatment for kids that are addicted to those drugs. Protect yourselves from drug lords. Manage your own health insurance. Regulate your own prescriptions, go ahead and take that medication when there's no inspection or control. Stop your own viral or bacterial outbreak. Risk your life with that doctor that doesn't have to have a license. These services aren't free folks. And they aren't provided by robots. AND BEST OF ALL: Try cashing your paycheck with no common currency. The Federal Reserve creates our monetary units. Try living without that folks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most people have a hard time with this as typically Government workers get more holidays and more vacation days than the average American worker. So don't be suprised to get a little hostility when asking for more.

And lower pay for comparably qualified employees above the support staff level.

When was the last time you faced mass layoffs?

Yeah, thought so.

Maybe not mass layoffs, but I suggest you take a trip to the Vietnam, Korea, World War I, World War II, or Law Enforcement memorials to see the difficult times many federal employees and families have faced. Many of us have been dragged around the country and the globe, uprooting families, making it difficult for spouses to build careers, and watching our kids routinely say goodbye to their friends. Many of us also took pay cuts from our private sector jobs to pursue a calling. I've spend many holidays in command posts and foreign countries and missed kids birthdays. I haven't been laid-off, but I've been shot at by citizens of this country and been held at gunpoint in a foreign land by their "military". I've attended the funerals of friends. If you don't think the day before Christmas should be a day off, fine, you're certainly entitled to that opinion. But please don't say it's because we somehow have it easy. I can assure you, I've earned every dollar I've been paid.

Anonymous wrote:Do you get a company christmas party? free cofffee in the office? Feds don't get these perks.

LOL -with the way corporate has scaled back, most people aren't getting these, either. Cripes, we didn't even get metro subsidies when I worked in the private sector.

Do you get a company christmas party? free cofffee in the office? Feds don't get these perks.

I don't begrudge hardworking federal employees their time off, but I think it's strange that every major holiday there's a post like this speculating whether the government will provide "extra time off". I work in the private sector and am expected to work Christmas Eve day - we don't speculate whether or not we'll get an extra day. And that's the same for every major holiday. Why do federal employees seem fixated on "extra" days? Especially when most have very generous leave to begin with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Bush did every time Dec. 24th was a Monday or Friday???

That's why you earn annual leave. Use it.

Spoken like someone who gets eight hours leave per pay period. Please remember that those of us at the starts of our careers take a lot longer to earn leave. Every little bit helps when you'd like to actually spend some time with your extended family.

Assuming you are in the 4 hour/pay period leave category, you are earning 13 days of annual leave each year.....about 2 1/2 weeks. (in addition, you earn 13 days of sick leave.)

If spending time with extended family during the holidays is important to you, you need to plan for it. Maybe cut back on other time off earlier in the year. I don't mean that in a snarky way....I am a Federal employee, too. I just find it kind of perplexing that you don't think 2 1/2 weeks of annual leave is generous for those at the "starts" of their careers.

Anonymous wrote:My buddies in private sector work alot less harder than I do. They will be "working from home" that day.

Less Harder?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WHy is it "soft" instead of "thank you for your service I know we have frozen raises for the last two years"?

You get a paycheck and this is your thanks. You are free to take annual leave but no ffeebie this year.

Do you think no salaries in the private sector have been frozen? We get only the major holidays, I accrue vacation at less than 8 hours every two weeks and raises are hard to come by. And believe me, I work hard to bail the feds out

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:WHy is it "soft" instead of "thank you for your service I know we have frozen raises for the last two years"?

You get a paycheck and this is your thanks. You are free to take annual leave but no ffeebie this year.

No. Our paycheck is EARNED.

Really, you and the posters like you just look miserable and jealous. Go away and perhaps make some better career decisions. Your outlook may improve.

After two days off fro Sandy, I think there's no way this happens. Oh well, that's what leave is for.

My buddies in private sector work alot less harder than I do. They will be "working from home" that day.

Yup, theoretically we do, but lucky for me, given the overwhelming volume of work that I have and understaffing problems, I get to work them without getting paid. And my agency has no credit hours or comp time (other than travel), so I won't be getting the time back on another day.

You have described my situation exactly.

This would be a nice make up for Inauguration/MLK combo day and for the sequestration come Jan.