National Day of Mourning for President James Earl Carter, Jr.; Federal Government Closure on Thursday, January 9, 2025

CPM 2024-28 December 30, 2024 Memorandum for Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies From: Robert H. Shriver, III Acting Director Subject: National Day of Mourning for President James Earl Carter, Jr.; Federal Government Closure on Thursday, January 9, 2025

As the Nation mourns the loss of President James Earl Carter, Jr., President Joseph R. Biden has taken official action to allow Federal employees to join their fellow citizens in remembering our thirty-ninth President of the United States. The President has today issued an Executive order to close Federal offices and excuse all Federal employees from duty for the scheduled workday on Thursday, January 9, 2025, 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 business. For pay and leave purposes, this period of time will be treated as falling within the scope of statutes and Executive orders governing holidays. Most employees who are excused from duty as a result of the President’s Executive order 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 January 9, 2025 (or applicable in-lieuof day), will not be charged annual leave (or any other form of paid leave, compensatory time off, or credit hours) for the employee’s scheduled workday. An employee who is required to work nonovertime hours on January 9th (or applicable inlieu-of day) is entitled to holiday premium pay under 5 U.S.C. 5546(b). (This paragraph does not apply to employees who receive annual premium pay for standby duty under 5 U.S.C. 5545(c)(1) or to firefighters who are covered by the special pay provisions of 5 U.S.C. 5545b.) If an employee has scheduled use or lose annual leave for January 9, 2025, and is unable to reschedule that leave for use before the end of the leave year (that is, no later than January 11, 2025, for employees on the standard biweekly payroll cycle), the leave will be forfeited. When use or lose leave is forfeited under these conditions, there is no

2 authority that permits restoration of the leave. (We note that employees may donate their excess annual leave to an approved leave recipient under the Federal Government’s voluntary leave transfer programs or under the Emergency Leave Transfer Program for approved leave recipients. Employees interested in donating leave should speak with their servicing HR office.) The President’s Executive order excuses covered Federal employees from duty during a pay period (December 29, 2024, through January 11, 2025) in which there is already one holiday—New Year’s Day. Thus, there will be two holidays within the same pay period—that is, January 1 and January 9, 2025. For further information on the procedures for multiple holidays during a pay period, see the fact sheet “Federal Holidays – Work Schedules and Pay” referenced below. For general pay and leave administration instructions, please refer to our fact sheets on: • Federal Holidays – Work Schedules and Pay • Compressed Work Schedules • Flexible Work Schedules • Federal Holidays—“In Lieu Of” Determination Additional information For additional information, agency headquarters-level human resources offices may contact OPM at leavepolicy@opm.gov. Employees should contact their agency human resources offices for assistance. Employees of the U.S. Postal Service and contract employees should contact their supervisor (or contract officer) to obtain information on their pay and leave entitlements. cc: Chief Human Capital Officers (CHCOs), Deputy CHCOs and Directors of Human Resources