Federal authorities will remain closed on Christmas Eve 2024 and employees will be exempt from duty

On Thursday, President Joe Biden announced that federal agencies will be closed on Christmas Eve to give workers an extra day off before Christmas.

The announcement was made by the White House via an executive order signed by the president on Thursday.

“All executive departments and agencies of the federal government will be closed and their employees relieved of duty on Tuesday, December 24, 2024, the day before Christmas,” the order states.

Even though the day has been designated a holiday, some federal employees still show up for work. Under the order, parts of the government that must remain open for reasons of “national security, defense or other public needs” will remain open.

Every president does it differently

Although Christmas Day is a federal holiday, the day before is not an employee holiday. Therefore, the decision to declare Christmas Eve a holiday rests solely with the president, although everyone deals with it differently.

During his first term, President-elect Donald Trump gave federal employees an additional day off in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Former President Barack Obama granted federal employees an additional day off, but instead of Christmas Eve, December 26, 2014 was considered a holiday. Former President George W. Bush also referred to December 24th as a holiday more than once.

Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a featured news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected] and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Are federal offices open on Christmas Eve? Biden gives workers a day off