With just a week to spare, a petition on “We the People” calling for federal employees to get Christmas Eve off has reached the White House’s threshold for getting an official response.
The petition passed 25,000 signatures on Monday, the amount needed for an answer from the White House. However, the White House has up to 30 days to respond to the petition once it hits the milestone, so there is no guarantee those wanting next Monday off will get an official answer in time.
As it stands now, Christmas Eve falls on a Monday and is not an official federal government holiday, so employees would either need to work or use a vacation day. The petition urges President Obama to issue an executive order.
“Federal employees have had a pay freeze for the past several years and the pay and benefits for the federal workforce have been under serious attack during the national elections held this year,” the petition states. “Giving federal employees an extra holiday on December 24th, 2012 would be a good gesture to improve morale of the federal workforce.”
