company paid holidays

My Husband has worked for his employer for over 12 years. They aren't a corporation but a small company. He gets 6 paid holidays a year. These are the Federal recognized holidays. He works a Monday - Friday work week.

This year they have decided to stay open on July 3rd, and close on the actual holiday which they are usually only open 4 hours and he is not a weekend worker.

There was only the notice posted on the door and not told to employees. Is there way to insure they either pay for the holiday he is missing or getting the day off since it has been enforced for 12 years and they have also followed the Federal Schedule for the same amount of years. HELP PLEASE!

1 answer  |  asked Jun 23, 2009 3:12 PM [EST]  |  applies to Arizona

Answers (1)

Francis Fanning
Paid holidays are not mandatory

Your question seems to assume that employers are required to give employees paid time off for national holidays. There is no such legal requirement for private sector employers. Most employers do this to keep the employees from rising up en masse to protest.
Under Arizona law, the fact that the employer has a policy or practice of giving paid holidays does not mean the company must continue to follow the policy. Unless the policy was part of a collective bargaining agreement (a union contract), it is not binding on the employer, and even if there were such an agreement, the only employees entitled to benefit from it are the members of the bargaining unit that the union represents. The employer is free to change the policy as long as it is not done retroactively. Since your husband has already been notified and it's not yet July 3rd, the employer is free to deviate from the policy now and in the future.

posted by Francis Fanning  |  Jun 23, 2009 8:50 PM [EST]

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