Early present: President declares Dec. 26 a holiday Published Dec. 12, 2014 75 Air Base WIng Public Affairs HILL AIR FORCE BASE, Utah -- The President has issued an Executive Order excusing executive branch non-Postal Service employees from duty on Dec. 26, with pay and without a charge to leave, except those who, in the judgment of the head of the agency, cannot be excused for reasons of national security, defense, or other essential public need. For pay and leave purposes, Dec. 26 will be treated as falling within the scope of statutes and Executive Orders governing holidays for federal employees. Employees working the 5/4/9 compressed work schedule to change their regular day off, or RDO, to align with the family/energy shutdown day on Dec. 26. However, as a result of this Executive Order, employees working the 5/4/9 schedule will not adjust their work schedule for this pay period and observe their regularly scheduled RDO. This update was coordinated with the Union Local 1592. Most employees who are excused from duty on Dec. 26 will receive the basic pay they would have received if no Executive order had been issued. An employee who was previously scheduled to take annual leave on Dec. 26 will not be charged annual leave (or any other form of paid leave, compensatory time off, or credit hours). This policy does not apply to employees who receive annual premium pay for standby duty (5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1)) or firefighters who are covered by special pay provisions (5 U.S.C. 5545b). An employee who is required to work non-overtime hours on Dec. 26 is entitled to holiday premium pay (5 U.S.C. 5546(b)). If an employee has scheduled "use or lose" annual leave on Dec. 26 and is unable to reschedule that leave for use before the end of the leave year (i.e., Jan. 10, 2015), the leave will be forfeited. When use or lose leave is forfeited under these conditions, the law (5U.S.C. 6304(d)) does not permit restoration of the leave. For more information, contact your supervisor or call Labor Relations at 801-775-4465.