AGO 97063.

• Court: Nebraska

Nebraska Attorney General Opinions 1997. AGO 97063. DATE: December 12, 1997SUBJECT: State Holidays Created as a Result of Presidential Proclamation; Additional Compensation for State Employees Who Work on Paid State Holidays REQUESTED BY: Robert D. Luth, Acting Director Nebraska Department of Administrative ServicesWRITTEN BY: Don Stenberg, Attorney General Dale A. Comer, Assistant Attorney General On November 25, 1997, President Clinton issued an Executive Order which pertained to "Closing of Government Departments and Agencies on Friday, December 26, 1997." That Executive Order provides: By the authority vested in me as President of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. All executive departments and agencies shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Friday, December 26, 1997, the day following Christmas Day, except as provided in Section 2 below. Section 2. The heads of executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 26, 1997, for reasons of national security or defense or for other public reasons. Section 3. Friday, December 26, 1997, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States. President Clinton's Order of November 25 apparently continues a custom of creating a holiday for federal employees on the Friday following Christmas in those years when Christmas falls on Thursday which has been observed since the administration of President Truman. You have posed two questions to us regarding the impact of President Clinton's order on state employees. 1. Creation of a Paid State Holiday. Your first question goes to the effect of the President's order with respect to a paid holiday for state employees. You ask, "[d]oes the President's Executive Order [of November 25, 1997] creating a federal holiday also create a paid state holiday?" We believe that it does. Three Nebraska statutes are of particular pertinence to your inquiry. First of all, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 84-1001 (1994) provides, as is relevant: (1) All state officers and heads of departments and their deputies...