Dear CHCOs and Deputy CHCOs,
Monday, October 13, 2025, is a Federal holiday, Columbus Day. Pursuant to statute, federal employees who are not exempted cannot be put into holiday pay status. Those Federal employees who will not be asked to work on Monday, October 13, 2025 will be placed on “holiday furlough” status for that single day. Agencies have the discretion to determine which employees are required to work and carry out those excepted activities that must continue to be performed on a holiday to ensure critical functions are maintained.
Agencies must notify those excepted employees who they plan to furlough for the holiday in alignment with 5 CFR 752.404(b). Agencies are not required to send individual notices to each employee but may send an email to all affected employees stating that they are being placed in a furlough status due to a holiday.
Please see the additional Q&A below for more information:
Question: Can agencies send out an internal communication to all excepted employees that they are furloughed during the upcoming holiday with an attached generic furlough notice signed by a designated official (e.g., a mass email from the CHCO)?
Answer: Each agency is responsible for determining which excepted activities must continue to be performed on a holiday in order to carry out functions related to such excepted activities, and which employees are required to work on the holiday to ensure these critical functions are maintained. For more detailed information, agencies may refer to the OPM Guidance for Shutdown Furloughs, specifically page 27, which provides additional insights on this matter.
For those excepted employees who the agency plans to furlough for the holiday, agencies may send an email to those employees stating that they are being placed in a furlough status due to a holiday. The agency should consult OPM’s regulations (5 CFR 752.404(b)) and OPM’s sample notices addressing intermittent absences and holidays before sending out any notice. The notice requirements in 752.404(b) still apply (e.g., specific reasons for furlough, detailed information about the right to appeal, etc.), but they do not require individualized notices. If the agency has any employees with a work schedule for which Monday is not a normal workday, the mass notice would need to say something about in-lieu-of holidays (as is done in the sample notices).
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