Pay for Holidays for Part-Time Employees

A former part-time Department of Agriculture employee appealed the disallowance of her claim for 4 additional hours of pay for Washington's birthday holiday. The employee was scheduled to work 4 hours on Monday, February 19, 1979, but did not work because of the holiday. Subsequently, the employee was paid for 4 hours, but believes she should have been paid for 8 hours. GAO held that Federal regulations provide that an employee is entitled to receive the same pay for the holiday that the employee would receive if the day were not a holiday and the employee worked. Therefore, when the employee did not work on February 19, 1979, because of Washington's birthday holiday, she was entitled to only 4 hours of pay at the basic rate. Accordingly, the disallowance of the employee's claim was sustained.