Congress designates a holiday by statute
The 11 federal holidays exist because Congress put each one into law, not because they're traditional or popular. The current list — New Year's Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth National Independence Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day — is set out in federal statute and published by the Office of Personnel Management, which administers pay and leave for federal employees. Washington's Birthday is the statutory name for the holiday widely known as Presidents Day; the federal government has never renamed it, so the legal designation on OPM's own list still reads "Washington's Birthday."
Each holiday is defined one of two ways: tied to a fixed calendar date, or tied to a specific weekday in a specific month. New Year's Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, and Christmas are fixed-date holidays. Martin Luther King Jr. Day (third Monday in January), Washington's Birthday (third Monday in February), Memorial Day (last Monday in May), Labor Day (first Monday in September), and Columbus Day (second Monday in October) are all defined by weekday, so their calendar date moves every year.
That distinction is why a question like "Is February 18, 2026 a holiday?" can't be answered from memory — but it can be worked out. Washington's Birthday is always the third Monday in February. In 2026, February's Mondays fall on the 2nd, 9th, 16th, and 23rd, which makes the 16th the third Monday — so Washington's Birthday in 2026 falls on February 16, not February 18. February 18, 2026 is a Wednesday and is not a federal holiday. For any other year, the same logic applies: count the Mondays in February and take the third one, or check the year-specific table that OPM and the U.S. Naval Observatory both publish.
What happens when a fixed-date holiday lands on a weekend
Juneteenth, Independence Day, and Christmas are pinned to specific calendar dates — June 19, July 4, and December 25 — which means some years they fall on a Saturday or Sunday. Federal policy handles this with an "in lieu of" rule: if the holiday falls on a Saturday, it's observed the preceding Friday; if it falls on a Sunday, it's observed the following Monday. This rule is spelled out in OPM's federal holidays guidance.
The practical effect is that federal offices, federal courts, and many banks close on the observed day, which may not be the calendar date most people associate with the holiday. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals, for instance, publishes its own annual holiday calendar for exactly this reason — court deadlines run on the observed date. Federal employees likewise get their paid day off on the observed date, not necessarily the date printed on a calendar.
So the rule a reader can apply to any future year is simple:
- Holiday falls on a Saturday → observed the Friday before
- Holiday falls on a Sunday → observed the Monday after
- Holiday falls on a weekday → observed that same day
Weekday-based holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day never need this adjustment, since by definition they're already anchored to a Monday.
Federal, state, and local calendars don't always match
A day can be a state holiday without being a federal one, and vice versa, because state legislatures set their own holiday schedules independent of Congress. That means a state office can be closed on a day when federal offices are open, or open on a day when federal offices are shut.
Two examples make the pattern clear. Illinois' state holiday schedule, maintained by the Illinois State Treasurer, includes days that don't appear on the federal list. Michigan's state holiday calendar follows a similar pattern of its own additions and omissions. Neither list is wrong — they're simply answering different questions, one for state government offices and one for federal ones.
| Sets its own list? | Where to check | |
|---|---|---|
| Federal government | Yes, by statute | OPM |
| State government | Yes, independently | State treasurer, HR, or administration department |
| Local/county government | Often, independently | County or city clerk's office |
If you're dealing with a state agency — a driver's license office, a state court, a state treasurer's office — check that state's own holiday schedule rather than assuming it mirrors the federal one. The same caution applies in reverse: a state holiday closing your local DMV doesn't mean the post office or a federal courthouse is closed too.
Private employers aren't bound by the federal list
Federal holiday law only obligates the federal government itself — it sets paid leave for federal employees and closes federal offices, but it creates no legal requirement for private businesses. A private employer can stay open on every one of the 11 federal holidays, close on all of them, or pick some other combination entirely; the choice is a matter of company policy, not federal law. The USAGov summary of federal holidays confirms that the designation applies to federal employees and offices, not to private-sector obligations generally.
This is also why people sometimes describe "12 paid holidays a year" instead of 11. Many private employers build a holiday schedule that mirrors the federal list but adds one more day — commonly the day after Thanksgiving, or a floating personal day — bringing their own paid-holiday count to 12. That extra day is a matter of company policy, not a 12th entry on the federal statute, which still stands at 11.
The practical takeaway: don't assume a day off just because it's a federal holiday. Check your own employer's handbook or HR calendar, since that document — not the federal statute — governs whether banks, offices, or your own workplace close for any given date.