In this order, being “excused from duty” means most affected federal employees are given paid time off, not forced to use their own leave. The order says December 24 and 26, 2025 are to be treated under Executive Order 11582 and 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b), which treat a day declared a holiday by executive order as a “designated holiday” for pay and leave. OPM’s holiday guidance states that when employees are excused from duty on a designated holiday, they receive paid holiday time off at their basic rate of pay, and prior approved leave for that day is generally not charged. OPM’s specific Q&A for the December 24 and 26, 2025 closure confirms that most employees excused on those days “will receive the basic pay they would have received if no Executive order had been issued” and will not be charged annual leave or other paid leave for those days, with narrow statutory exceptions (e.g., certain standby employees and firefighters).
The order gives the heads of executive departments and agencies the authority to decide which specific offices or installations must stay open and which employees must work on December 24 and/or 26, 2025. It states that this can be required “for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need,” but it does not further define those terms. In practice, each agency head (and their delegated managers) interprets those broad categories and designates employees needed to maintain essential operations—typically work tied to national security or defense missions, protection of life and property, critical public safety, or other services the agency judges cannot be paused—while everyone else is excused.
Executive Order 11582 (1971) sets the government‑wide rules for how federal agencies observe holidays. It defines “holiday” to include any day designated as a holiday by federal statute or by executive order, and it tells agencies how to handle cases where a holiday falls on a Sunday or other non‑workday (by designating an “in‑lieu‑of” holiday). It also provides rules for employees whose workday spans two calendar days and says that, for pay and leave purposes, certain workdays are to be treated as the holiday instead of the calendar date. By stating that December 24 and 26, 2025 “shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582,” the new order makes those dates subject to all those holiday‑observance rules, so federal employees’ schedules, pay, and leave on those days are handled the same way as on an official federal holiday declared by statute.
5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) together govern how holidays affect federal employees’ pay and which days count as the “holiday” for pay and leave:
• 5 U.S.C. 5546 (“Pay for Sunday and holiday work”) provides that an employee who works on a day designated as a holiday by statute or executive order is entitled to their basic pay plus holiday premium pay equal to their basic pay for up to 8 non‑overtime hours—effectively double time for those hours. It also guarantees at least 2 hours of holiday premium pay if any work is required that day, and it separately sets Sunday premium pay rules.
• 5 U.S.C. 6103(b) says that when a legal public holiday (or other day declared a holiday by statute or executive order) falls on a Saturday or on an employee’s regular non‑workday, another specific workday (usually the preceding workday) is treated as the legal public holiday for pay and leave purposes, and it includes a special rule for employees stationed outside the United States.
By referencing these sections, the executive order ensures that December 24 and 26, 2025 are treated as holidays for determining who gets paid time off, who receives holiday premium pay if they must work, and how any “in‑lieu‑of” holiday is assigned when those days fall on an employee’s non‑workday.
The order directs the Director of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to “take such actions as may be necessary to implement this order.” In practice, OPM can and typically does:
• Issue government‑wide pay and leave guidance explaining how the extra holiday dates are treated (e.g., that they count as holidays, how to handle pre‑approved leave, who is eligible for holiday premium pay, and how to determine any “in‑lieu‑of” holidays).
• Update official federal holiday/pay calendars and instruct agencies and payroll providers on coding those days as paid holiday time off.
• Provide detailed Q&As and fact sheets to agencies and employees, as OPM has done for similar executive‑order closures (for example, its guidance and Q&A on treating December 24 and 26, 2025 as holidays for pay and leave).
These actions operationalize the order across the civil service but must still comply with existing statutes and regulations.
“Subject to the availability of appropriations” means that carrying out the order—including paying employees for being excused on those days—can only be done if Congress has already provided lawful funding. Under the Antideficiency Act, agencies cannot obligate or spend money without an appropriation. In normal circumstances, when agencies have current appropriations, the closure and paid holiday time off proceed as described. If appropriations were to lapse (for example, in a government shutdown covering those dates), agencies would be legally barred from paying most employees until Congress restores funding, regardless of what the executive order directs. The phrase is therefore a legal limitation ensuring the order does not override appropriations law.
The order states that “all executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed” on December 24 and 26, 2025, with an exception allowing agency heads to keep specific offices open and require certain employees to work “for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.” It does not list particular services. In practice, this means most routine, public‑facing federal services operated by executive agencies—such as passport agencies, Social Security field offices, IRS walk‑in centers, and many administrative offices—would normally be closed on those days, while essential operations (for example, border and airport security, air traffic control, many law‑enforcement and national‑security functions, and other activities the agency deems critical) continue to operate with designated staff and receive holiday premium pay as applicable. The exact status of a given office (such as a particular national park or local service center) depends on decisions made by that agency’s leadership under the order’s “public need” exception and is not spelled out in the text of the order itself.