Regular full-time employees shall receive either eight (8) hours of pay or eight (8) hours of holiday leave for all authorized holidays listed in this Section, provided they are in a full pay status on both their regularly scheduled workdays immediately preceding and following the holiday. An employee may carry a maximum of one hundred and twenty (120) hours of holiday leave on the books.
Part-time employees shall be entitled to holiday pay in proportion to the average percentage of full-time hours worked during the two (2) pay periods immediately preceding the pay period which includes the holiday. If two or more holidays fall on succeeding or alternate pay periods, then the average full-time hours worked in the two (2) pay periods immediately preceding the first holiday shall be used in determining the holiday pay entitlement for the subsequent holiday.
Employees regularly scheduled to work a 9/80 or 4/10 schedule may use vacation, accrued holiday pay or compensatory time off to account for the additional one or two hours of their shift, or they can request to flex those hours within the same work week, with approval of their supervisor.
- January 1 (New Years’ Day)
- Third Monday in January (Martin Luther King, ‘s Birthday)
- February 12 (Lincoln’s Birthday)
- Third Monday in February (Washington’s Birthday)
- Last Monday in May (Memorial Day)
- Juneteenth (June 19th)
- July 4 (Independence Day)
- First Monday in September (Labor Day)
- Second Monday in October (Indigenous Peoples’ Day/ Columbus Day)
- November 11 (Veterans Day)
- Fourth Thursday in November (Thanksgiving Day)
- Fourth Friday in November
- December 25 (Christmas Day)
- Every day appointed by the President of the United States or Governor of California to be a day of public mourning, thanksgiving or holiday. Granting of such holidays shall be discretionary with the Board of Supervisors.
If the Legislature or the Governor appoints a date different from the one shown above for the observance of one of these holidays, then San Mateo County shall observe the holiday on the date appointed by the Legislature or the Governor.
If one of the holidays listed above falls on Sunday, and the employee is not regularly scheduled to work that day, the holiday will be observed on Monday.
If any of the above holidays falls on a day other than Sunday and an employee is not regularly scheduled to work that day, or if an employee is required to work on a holiday, the employee shall be entitled to equivalent straight time off with pay. This equivalent straight time off is limited to one hundred twenty (120) hours with any time earned in excess of one hundred twenty (120) hours cashed out at the equivalent straight time rate. If an employee leaves County service with accrued hours, those hours will be cashed out. If, however, the department head determines, in their sole discretion, that in the case of an employee in Work Group 1 the requirements of the service make it not feasible to add equivalent straight time to the employee’s vacation accumulation, the employee shall be paid for the holiday on the basis of straight time, not to exceed eight (8) hours for any one (1) holiday.