Uniform Monday Holiday Act
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act (Pub.L. 90-363) is an Act of Congress that amended the federal holiday provisions of the United States Code to establish the observance of certain holidays on Mondays. The Act was signed into law on June 28, 1968 and took effect on January 1, 1971.[1]
The Act moved Washington's Birthday, Memorial Day and Veterans Day from fixed dates to designated Mondays and created a new holiday, Columbus Day, which also falls on a Monday.[2] The Act was designed to increase the number of three-day weekends for federal employees.[2] Veterans Day was removed from this list of always-on-Monday holidays when it was moved back to its traditional date of November 11, by act of Congress in 1975, effective 1978.
Contrary to popular perception, the Act did not establish "Presidents' Day", nor did it combine the observance of Lincoln's Birthday with Washington's. [2][1]
The holiday dates that this act established were as follows:
- George Washington's Birthday: third Monday in February (formerly February 22)
- Memorial Day: last Monday in May (formerly May 30)
- Columbus Day: second Monday in October (formerly not a federal holiday, but observed on October 12 in some states)
- Veterans Day: fourth Monday in October (formerly November 11, and subsequently moved back to November 11 effective 1978[3])
[edit] References
- ^ a b Uniform Monday Holiday Act. National Archives and Records Administration. January 15, 1968.
- ^ a b c Presidents Day. Urban Legends Reference Pages. Snopes.com. February 17, 2008.
- ^ United States Law Section 6103. Justia.
[edit] External links
- Presidents' Day: Long-Standing Misnomer, Christian Science Monitor, 1998
- Federal holiday provisions of the United States Code, 5 U.S.C. 6103
- Text of the Act
