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Comment by paxys | Hacker News Reader

What does making it a public holiday mean? I assume federal government offices will be shut on that day. What about state offices? Banks, other services? Private companies?

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I assume they are making it a federal holiday not unlike Columbus Day or Veterans Day. If you work in the private sector the chance you have those days off is fairly low.

[Edit: I am not saying that Juneteeth won't get special treatment. See my nested commented in this thread.]

State governments may or may not recognize a given federal public holiday.

I guarantee you all private companies will make it a day off.

Very unlikely. Even large corporate employers don't give time off for most federal holidays. I have a cushy tech job and still have to work on MLK day, President's Day, Veteran's Day, Columbus Day.

Apple has Juneteenth off now, and did so before this announcement.

My (large media) company has had it as well. We've made inclusion and progression a huge point of emphasis over the last decade though, so it's not really surprising.

Why does your labor union allow that?

Most people would prefer an extra vacation day that they can take any day they want, or accumulate and take in a block, over a mandated holiday on a particular day.

Well, check my prediction 1-2 years from now. Your company will give you a day off on both MLK and Juneteenth. On Juneteenth 2023 you'll have a day off (this and next year it falls on the weekend)

The only exception to this would be companies (and schools) that will use Juneteenth as an education day instead of giving the day off. (I hope companies don't do that. If I want to get educated I have books and the Internet)

My company decided to give Juneteenth off this year as a change to the calendar effective from January. Its treated exactly the same as every other federal holiday, if it falls on a Saturday we get Friday off and if it falls on a Sunday we get Monday.

Same. Last year it was a half day, but this year it's a full holiday like any other (observed on Friday, June 18), and I assume will continue going forward.

Replying to my sibling comment from @paxys:

True, though Juneteenth may be different here. It could be considered the most basic signal of whether a company cares about Diversity & Inclusion. Of course this itself would be meaningless, but perhaps eventually the lack of this holiday may say something about that employer.

P.S.: The big tech company I work for has more federal holidays off, but Columbus Day and Veterans Day are not among them.

I'm actually kind of shocked, but there are plenty of companies that don't give MLK day off. So those companies are probably not going to do Juneteenth.

If I had a private company, I would put 0 emphasis on diversity and inclusion beyond "if you discriminate on the basis of sex or race, you are fired." I would, however, have Juneteenth off as a holiday.

So, please consider me a data point of 1 which does not fit your paradigm.

*white collar companies

Corner stores and restaurants don’t close.

Companies I've worked at always had a few "floating holidays". This is so that you can take these on a day they are meaningful to you.

So one way companies will not give any more time off is by just saying "feel free to use one of your floating holidays on Juneteenth".

Maybe some high profile companies or leading startups, but the average SMB isn’t going to give paid time off unless mandated.

Almost no private company gives every federal holiday off.

Companies and schools tend to echo federal holidays, so this will have some small effect but on a very big scale.

Most schools already close for Juneteenth; it's summer break.

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I've always wondered why many other countries shut down for Christmas entirely yet have relatively low or no compulsory religious language in public institutions, or purity tests in politics and government. It might be too easy to blame capitalism for a moral decline in the general public, were it not unpatriotic and therefore not aligned with the political party that most religious people tend to associate with.

Maybe it is fun?

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