The Workplace Advisors specializes in providing HR assistance to associations such as PPAI and their member companies. 

Each month, the consultancy answers anonymous questions from companies about a myriad of topics. Below is advice on paid holidays and dealing with employees having surgery.

Question: We offer paid holidays to employees. Are we required to pay holidays to all employees?

Answer: In most cases, holiday pay is a benefit employers can offer voluntarily (although a couple of states require certain holidays), which means you can establish any criteria you want as to which employees are eligible as long as you are consistent.

  • For example, you can offer holiday pay to all employees, only regular employees, and/or only full-time employees while also defining the number of hours to be considered full-time.


You can also decide which holidays you observe and which of those, if any, you will pay for. While many companies observe six common ones (New Year’s Day, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas), some companies offer added days such as the Friday after Thanksgiving or the day before or after Christmas (which can differ from year to year depending on when the holidays fall in the week). Other companies observe only one or two holidays a year because their industry (e.g., retail, hospitality, and janitorial) typically expects them to work on holidays.

  • Some companies expand the benefit by offering flex holidays to allow employees time off for their personal religious, cultural, or lifestyle priorities (i.e., Passover, Kwanzaa or participating in a cancer walk).


Even if you close the company for a holiday, you do not need to pay non-exempt employees for these holidays, but you can.

Whatever you decide to offer, you should draft a comprehensive policy that includes who is eligible, observed holidays, whether they are paid or unpaid, and whether employees will receive any extra pay for working on an observed holiday.

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Question: An employee is going out for surgery. Besides noting their time off on the schedule, what do we need to do?

Answer: There are several actions to take when an employee is going out for their own medical condition, which should be applied consistently in all similar situations.

First, you need to determine if they are eligible for protected leave under federal or state law. If so, then you need to provide the employee with the applicable forms and information. You should ask for documentation from their health care provider to verify the time off as you process their leave.

  • Second, if the employee is entitled to or will be required to use available paid time off (such as sick time), you should notify them of that.
  • If they will be eligible for paid leave through a state-run program, you should direct them to that agency.


Whether or not you have taken any of the above steps, you should ask for a doctor’s note releasing them back to work before they can come back. This note should include if they are released back to full duty or if there are any limitations or restrictions and for how long. This note is important to make sure employees can physically do the job or, if they are reinjured on the job, it could fall on your Workers’ Comp.

Be proactive and develop a procedure for handling leave requests and train everyone who interacts with the employees how requests need to be handled. Be sure to keep all medical information strictly confidential, only forwarding information such as days off or accommodations to those who need to know.

To learn more, visit www.theworkplaceadvisors.com.