17.1 Regular full-time employees in established positions shall be entitled to take all authorized holidays at full pay, not to exceed eight (8) hours for any one (1) day, provided they are in a full pay status for a full work day on both their regularly scheduled workdays immediately preceding and following the holiday. Part-time employees shall be entitled to holiday pay in proportion to the percentage of full-time hours worked during the biweekly pay period which includes a holiday; e.g., if a part-time employee works fifty percent (50%) of the full-time hours in a pay period, the employee shall be paid for one-half for each holiday falling within that pay period.
17.2 The holidays in this County are:
- January 1 (New Year’s Day)
- Third Monday in January (Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday)
- Third Monday in February (Washington’s Birthday)
- Last Monday in May (Memorial Day)
- June 19 (Juneteenth)
- July 4 (Independence Day)
- First Monday in September (Labor Day)
- Second Monday in October (Columbus Day/Indigenous Peoples 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.
Lincoln’s Birthday holiday was eliminated and replaced with a floating holiday (8 hours of holiday time) which will accrue on February 12. The floating holiday may be used starting in the first pay period that begins after February 12th.
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.
Winter Recess Days
- Effective in December 2023 (contingent on Board of Supervisors’ approval of a successor MOU no later than December 12, 2023, December 2024, December 2025, and December 2026, the County shall provide three (3) paid winter recess holidays (the equivalent of twenty-four (24) hours for a full time employee) per year. If the Board of Supervisors does not approve the successor MOU by December 12, 2023, there will be no winter recess in 2023.
- For a three (3) day period designated by the County between December 26th and December 31st of each year during the term of this 2023 MOU, the County agrees to hold a Winter Recess. During the Winter Recess, County departments and divisions may move to minimum staffing levels and/or close business, depending on the needs of the department and the public served. Which departments and divisions will close or go to minimum staffing and which employees will be required to work is entirely within the discretion of the Appointing Authority or designee. The determination for closure shall be made by the Department Head and subject to County Manager and Board of Supervisors’ approval.
- During the Winter Recess, full-time employees in established positions shall be entitled to eight (8) hours of full pay for each day of the three-day Winter Recess, provided they are in a full pay status on both their regularly scheduled workdays immediately preceding and following the holiday. Part-time employees shall be entitled to holiday pay, not to exceed eight (8) hours for any one (1) day, in proportion to the average percentage of hours worked during the two (2) pay periods without holidays immediately preceding the pay period which includes the holiday.
- If any of the Winter Recess days falls on a day the employee is not regularly scheduled to work, or if an employee is required to work on a Winter Recess day, the employee shall be entitled to equivalent straight time off with pay. Winter Recess exchange days shall be scheduled in the same manner as vacation, unless the department’s policy is to schedule vacation per a vacation sign up list, in which case these days shall be scheduled in the same manner as a Floating Holiday. This equivalent time off is limited to twenty-four (24) hours, and employees may not bank more than forty-eight (48) hours of Winter Recess. If an employee leaves County service with accrued Winter Recess hours, those hours will be cashed out with terminal pay. Employees working on a Winter Recess day shall be compensated in accordance with the provisions of this MOU.
- Winter Recess hours will not be included as hours worked for the purpose of calculating overtime.
17.3 If one of the holidays listed above falls on Sunday and the employee is not scheduled to work that day, the holiday will be observed on the following Monday.
17.4 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, they 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.
17.5 Extra help are not entitled to holiday pay or time off with pay in lieu of pay.
17.6 Employees working on a holiday shall be compensated for such time worked at the rate of one and one-half (1.5) times the straight-time rate as provided in Section 8, Overtime.