A Public Holiday That Isn’t
Yesterday (17 Jan 2005) was Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the USA. To my surprise, although this was a gazetted public holiday, my corporate HQ (based in Sunnyvale, California) did not recognize that. Some people took leave, but others turned up for work as usual.
I’ve never given it much thought before, but it seems like the private sector is free to stipulate which days are holidays and which are not. The gazetted holidays have the government imprimatur, but depending on the employer, certain companies may not choose to honour that. I suppose it’s the same in Singapore as well where retailers are often required to work over the holidays.