Should Boxing Day be a US holiday?

[pinkxray]

I would love to have the day after Xmas off! I am off today thankfully, but only because I had to work all weekend including 16hrs on Xmas Eve. I work in a hospital. We are extremely short staffed this week and apparently everyone thought they should be off today bc our department is sending out requests for help since 3 people called out for the day shift.

 

[tony67]

Yeah probably should be a holiday.

When I was working we got Christmas eve\day and New Years eve\Day.

Nothing really got done between those two, and for the most part we had it off unofficially.
I usually sort of worked it as I prefer to take my time off in the summer and travel.

I always made a big deal deal that I was working and covering so others could be off so no one complained when I took time in summer.

 

[fla4fun]

I wouldn’t mind another holiday, however, if it were a holiday in the US many people here wouldn’t get it off. Aside from first responders, hospitals, and airports, tourists kind of expect hotels, restaurants, and theme parks to be open every day. My sister had to work yesterday and will be working New Year’s as well, since she works in a hotel. We aren’t doing our Christmas until MLK weekend. When I worked for a travel company, we couldn’t request any PTO from December 20th through January 2nd. So we only got the holiday off if it fell on our regular day off. Since I did payroll, I worked every Monday holiday, including Memorial Day and Labor Day. The only good thing was the double pay on the holiday.

 

[ronandannette]

The United States is on the low end of number of national holidays compared to nations around the world.

Most everyone has 'essential' personnel in their families who must work holidays. Like others we adjust as many of our celebrations to other days/time as possible to include them. 2 of my own kids are healthcare workers, bil was a firefighter, we have military, nurses, etc. I work at a church, so religious holy days require extra work from me on Christmas and Easter, etc.

Admittedly, I do not take as many vacation days as I am allotted and still have about 3 weeks worth accumulated from this and previous years (especially the Covid year when I took very little vacay when travel and getting in crowds was discouraged).

But, Americans also are some of the most unhealthy population in the world because of our work ethics. My own father died on the job when working OT on a Saturday at age 38 of a heart attack.

If we were encouraged and had fill in personnel, even the essential workers could take more holidays.

So yes, I'm all for additional holidays on our national calendar, especially at December holiday time when people are very busy with preparing (we hosted 20+ last night) celebrating, and visiting multiple sets of family in town and out of town (we will go visit grandma #3 by driving 7 hours away later this week).

You actually get more annual stat days than we do here in Canada and Boxing Day is is one of the few we don’t share. My company has business units in Austin and Long Beach. By law those employees get all the American holidays off and by company policy they get all the Canadian ones too. I’m jealous.

 

[Southernmiss]

You actually get more annual stat days than we do here in Canada and Boxing Day is is one of the few we don’t share. My company has business units in Austin and Long Beach. By law those employees get all the American holidays off and by company policy they get all the Canadian ones too. I’m jealous.

Sounds like Canadians need to demand more holidays, too

 

[sam_gordon]

Think about it... adding a federal holiday really only helps federal workers. Private companies don't have to give federal holidays off to their employees. How many got Juneteenth off? Or Washington's birthday? Good Friday? Veterans Day?
I'm guessing if a company DID add Boxing Day as a recognized holiday, they'd "take away" another one. So you get Boxing Day off, but Christmas Eve is now a workday.

 

[Bad Pink Tink 2.0]

Think about it... adding a federal holiday really only helps federal workers. Private companies don't have to give federal holidays off to their employees. How many got Juneteenth off? Or Washington's birthday? Good Friday? Veterans Day?
I'm guessing if a company DID add Boxing Day as a recognized holiday, they'd "take away" another one. So you get Boxing Day off, but Christmas Eve is now a workday.

Thats the difference between Ireland, UK and other countries and America. Our Bank Holidays / Public Hilidays are days off for more than just the equivalent of federal employees. Private companies, mom and pop places, multinational companies and corporations all have Bank Holidays off. Public transport goes to a Sunday reduced service.

For those who have to work on Bank Holidays, there is a law to compensate them for missing out on the day off.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/what_you_should_know/public-holidays/

When a person works on a public holiday they are entitled to be paid for the day in accordance with their agreed rates. In addition, they also have an entitlement to benefit for the public holiday. This can be different for each public holiday and each employee depending on the individual's work pattern.

If the business is closed on the public holiday and an employee would normally be due to work, then they get their normal day's pay.

If the business is open and an employee works, he/she is entitled to either paid time off or an additional day's pay. The additional day's pay is what was paid for the normal daily hours last worked before the public holiday.

If an employee is not normally rostered to work, then they will be entitled to one-fifth of their normal weekly wage extra.

 

[ronandannette]

Think about it... adding a federal holiday really only helps federal workers. Private companies don't have to give federal holidays off to their employees. How many got Juneteenth off? Or Washington's birthday? Good Friday? Veterans Day?
I'm guessing if a company DID add Boxing Day as a recognized holiday, they'd "take away" another one. So you get Boxing Day off, but Christmas Eve is now a workday.

I’m not sure how it works there but you are correct in that many types of businesses and essential services remain open on stat holidays here as well. By law though, anyone working must receive stat pay (usually time-and-a-half) or a different day off in lieu.

Boxing Day is the traditional Canadian equivalent of your Black Friday. A huge shopping day and retailers are all definitely open.

 

[_19disnA]

Had never heard of 'Boxing day' until we had some relatives originally from the UK. They also mentioned it was a tradition for wealthy individuals to give presents to their staff the day after Christmas and that was the origin. Since Christmas, much like July 4 moves around the calendar, it isn't always the same day of the week (compared to Thanksgiving, for example). Some companies are closed between Christmas and New Year's while others aren't. I don't see a reason to make it a US holiday and doubt that would ever happen. More likely you should plan your vacation days to take off days that aren't considered holidays but a day you don't want to work. If Christmas falls on a weekend, much like July 4 each company has their own policies about which day is considered a holiday.

If a company adds a holiday and then pays all of their employees for an extra day off, that adds to the cost of running the business. Eventually that translates into raising the price of whatever product they sell.

 

[ChrisFL]

No. Take it off on your own if your employer offers PTO. Or take it off without pay if allowed.

why not though?

 

[sam_gordon]

Thats the difference between Ireland, UK and other countries and America. Our Bank Holidays / Public Hilidays are days off for more than just the equivalent of federal employees. Private companies, mom and pop places, multinational companies and corporations all have Bank Holidays off. Public transport goes to a Sunday reduced service.

And those workers who use public transportation? Seems like t hey get the short end of the stick.

Again, employers can offer any holidays they want. My former employer used to give the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday. Many businesses offer Christmas Eve and/or NY eve as holidays. Nothing is stopping a business from offering Boxing Day.

For those who have to work on Bank Holidays, there is a law to compensate them for missing out on the day off.
https://www.workplacerelations.ie/en/what_you_should_know/public-holidays/

When a person works on a public holiday they are entitled to be paid for the day in accordance with their agreed rates. In addition, they also have an entitlement to benefit for the public holiday. This can be different for each public holiday and each employee depending on the individual's work pattern.

If the business is closed on the public holiday and an employee would normally be due to work, then they get their normal day's pay.

If the business is open and an employee works, he/she is entitled to either paid time off or an additional day's pay. The additional day's pay is what was paid for the normal daily hours last worked before the public holiday.

If an employee is not normally rostered to work, then they will be entitled to one-fifth of their normal weekly wage extra.

At least at the companies I've worked, if you worked a company designated holiday (whether Federal or not), you got at least double pay. Payment for the actual worked hours + 8 hours holiday pay. That's for "hourly" employees. Salaried employees would generally get another day off at some point in the future.

If you are off on the holiday, you got 8 hours holiday pay. Those 8 hours don't factor into OT calculations (you have to physically work more than 40 hours in a pay week) however.

 

[sam_gordon]

why not though?

I think the bigger argument is "why"? Presumably a business is open on a certain day because they feel being open brings in more money than it costs them to be open. That can be a holiday or any day of the week. Shouldn't businesses get to choose what days they're open?

 

[VandVsmama]

No.

 

[kdonnel]

The US has horrible work culture.

These stats make me sad for the average US employee.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/pto-statistics/

For the most part people are afraid to take the PTO given, even it is a woefully low amount.

Only 48% of US workers take all the PTO days given to them. And that does not account for the 28 million Americans who do not get any PTO or paid holidays since there is no Federal requirements.

Sometimes the government has to nudge society to change through legislation.

American workers are way overdue for positive change in the workplace. I think that is why there has been a rise in unionization.

 

[disneychrista]

By law those employees get all the American holidays off and by company policy they get all the Canadian ones too. I’m jealous.

Technically there is no law that requires holidays to be days off paid or otherwise.

 

[luv2cheer92]

LOL, yeah 11 Federal holidays aren't enough. 12 in years that we inaugurate a President.
Not that I am bitter as someone who worked jobs for 42 where holidays were never days off. Didn't know any better I guess as my mom was a nurse in a hospital and holidays weren't days off for her either when I was growing up.

My work only honors 7 of them. We are required to work at least half, so 3 one year and 4 the next. We are only guaranteed to be allowed off for Thanksgiving and Christmas days, but people do still volunteer to work those days. And of course, you can request PTO around the holidays, but it may or may not be approved. My work is really, really good about giving you PTO whenever you ask for it, but around holidays is a little different.

But even when we are off for a holiday, we still have to use PTO for that day. So adding another holiday, especially a non-major one, wouldn't really make much of a difference for me at all.

Saying this as I am working today, just like any other regular day.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I don't think we need yet another federal holiday. I'm fine with people using their PTO, however they wish to--obviously, this has to be cleared by their boss.

Personally, I always liked working the week between Christmas and New Year's--everyone else would be out, I could get more work done in half a day than I could in an average week. It was also a good time to get to all the things that get pushed aside during the year--organizing and such.

 

[sam_gordon]

The US has horrible work culture.

These stats make me sad for the average US employee.

https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/pto-statistics/

For the most part people are afraid to take the PTO given, even it is a woefully low amount.

Only 48% of US workers take all the PTO days given to them. And that does not account for the 28 million Americans who do not get any PTO or paid holidays since there is no Federal requirements.

Sometimes the government has to nudge society to change through legislation.

American workers are way overdue for positive change in the workplace. I think that is why there has been a rise in unionization.

If you want to fix this problem, make it a law that companies can't retaliate against workers for using their benefits. I assume that's why people are "afraid" to take their earned PTO.

BUT, as a former manager (who had to approve PTO time), there is a certain minimum number of people that need to work on any given day to keep the business open. Assuming the business needs to be open that day, you can't give everyone the day off.

Part of it is on the employees to plan their time off appropriately. We've had discussions on here about how PTO time is determined (who gets priority? Based on Seniority? When the request is put in? Etc).

If someone waits to put in their request for between Christmas and NY for example, what if that time can't be approved (because it's already given to someone else)? Is that the fault of the employer or employee?

At my old company, where I had 30 odd days of PTO, I'd often get to December and end up taking days just to use them. Since our sick and vacation time was one bucket, I wanted to save some days for the end of the year in case I or the family got sick.

The other argument would be for companies to give more PTO time, which would require hiring more people to cover those days. Companies may have to do that to find workers (increase benefits), but they don't want to spend money they don't HAVE to.

 

[kdonnel]

If you want to fix this problem, make it a law that companies can't retaliate against workers for using their benefits. I assume that's why people are "afraid" to take their earned PTO.

BUT, as a former manager (who had to approve PTO time), there is a certain minimum number of people that need to work on any given day to keep the business open. Assuming the business needs to be open that day, you can't give everyone the day off.

Part of it is on the employees to plan their time off appropriately. We've had discussions on here about how PTO time is determined (who gets priority? Based on Seniority? When the request is put in? Etc).

If someone waits to put in their request for between Christmas and NY for example, what if that time can't be approved (because it's already given to someone else)? Is that the fault of the employer or employee?

At my old company, where I had 30 odd days of PTO, I'd often get to December and end up taking days just to use them. Since our sick and vacation time was one bucket, I wanted to save some days for the end of the year in case I or the family got sick.

The other argument would be for companies to give more PTO time, which would require hiring more people to cover those days. Companies may have to do that to find workers (increase benefits), but they don't want to spend money they don't HAVE to.

Most of your reasons can be directly attributed to understaffing by the company. If they are not staffed to allow people to use a benefit, they are not staffed appropriately.

I think prior generations accepted mistreatment by companies as just the way things worked.

I believe the millennials and gen z are not as will to accept being mistreated by companies.

 

[prairie_girl]

Uhh…what are we celebrating on Boxing Day? Did anyone explain?

I don't think anyone cares. They just want the day after Christmas off.

It’s my anniversary, so now you can care lol