Who Gets Columbus Day Off

Still confused about whether you have Monday off for Columbus Day? CityLab (with information from the Pew Research Center) has created this brief questionnaire to help you figure it out:

1. Are you a state employee working in one of the blue states below?

“Yes.” Well, aren’t you lucky. According to Pew, state employees working in 23 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, and Puerto Rico get a paid holiday on Columbus Day. Fun fact: Columbus Day is observed the Friday after Thanksgiving in Tennessee “at the governor’s discretion.”

“​No.” Too bad.

2. Are you a federal employee?

“Yes.” You’re definitely getting Monday off. If you’re one of the essential federal employees that felt cheated out of days off during the government shutdown that never happened, here’s a chance to binge watch that show everyone has been talking about.

“No.” Tough luck, sucker.

3. Do you work for a bank or bond market that trades in government debt?

“Yes.” Great! Go hiking.

“What is a bond?” Ugh. Have fun at work on Monday!

4. Is your employer like really into Christopher Columbus?

“Yes.” Great, you might get the day off. Although maybe it’s worth digging into why your employers are all about it? Maybe they think it celebrates Italian-American heritage (like the guy from Denver who pushed for Columbus Day to become an official Colorado holiday 100 years ago)? Maybe they don’t get that it offends people to celebrate a man who killed and enslaved the original inhabitants of the land he “discovered”? (That’s why cities like Minneapolis have renamed the holiday “Indigenous People’s Day.)

Anyway, since you get some free time, check out this clip from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about why Columbus Day “is still a thing”:

“No.” Well, sucks for you. Lol.