What day is Presidents' Day 2024? Is it a holiday?

Lianna Norman, USA TODAY NETWORK - Florida
·2 min read

If you’re a federal employee, you have not one, but two federal holidays coming up to give you three-day weekends in January and February.

About a month after Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which falls on Monday, January 15, you can look forward to Presidents’ Day weekend in February.

Here’s when Presidents’ Day 2024 is, who gets to skip work that day and the original name of the federal holiday.

What day in 2024 is Presidents’ Day?

Presidents’ Day 2024 will fall on Monday, February 19.

Is Presidents’ Day a legal holiday?

“Presidents’ Day” is actually a nickname and what most people know the holiday as. It’s actually a federally observed holiday held on the third Monday in February to honor the first U.S. president’s birthday and is technically named “Washington’s Birthday.”

Since George Washington, who was born on February 22, shared a birth month with Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12, the holiday informally became a more general celebration of the country’s founding fathers.

Presidents’ Day is one of eleven permanent federal holidays created by Congress. But each state has the freedom to choose which holidays it legally observes, so not everyone in the U.S. will get a three-day weekend.

Why was Presidents’ Day moved to Monday?

Presidents’ Day became a federal holiday under President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879 and was originally observed on Washington’s actual birthday each year.

In 1968, Congress passed a law that ensured Presidents’ Day and other legal public holidays always fall on a Monday.

Is Presidents Day a non working holiday in the US?

According to The Daytona Beach News-Journal, Florida hasn’t added Presidents’ day to the list of the state’s legal holidays.

But since it’s a federal holiday, mail delivery, post offices and other government services won’t be open for business.

If you're not a federal employee, you aren’t guaranteed a three-day weekend. But many of the state’s school districts will be closed, so check your kids’ school schedule to see if you’ll need to arrange childcare for the third Monday in February.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Presidents' Day 2024, is it a non-working holiday, when is it?