ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE MANUAL
TRANSMITTAL MEMORANDUM NO. 42
Appendix B
August 2016

TO: Manual Recipients
FROM: Scott DeFruscio, Director of Staffing Services
SUBJECT: Attendance and Leave Manual Appendix B

This memorandum transmits the material listed below for insertion in your copy of the Attendance and Leave Manual.

  Section Pages Date

(1) Introduction

Appendix B

1-2

August 2016

(2) 2017 Calendar of
Legal Holidays and
Days of Religious
Significance

Appendix B

 

3-6

 

August 2016

 

 

The following material should be retained until July 5, 2019, and then removed from your copy of the Manual and destroyed.

  Section Pages Date
(1) Introduction Appendix B 1-2 June 2015
(2) 2016 Calendar of
Legal Holidays and
Days of Religious
Significance
Appendix B 3-6 June 2015

Introduction

The New York State General Construction Law establishes the days or dates on which legal holidays are observed in New York State. Under this law, holidays other than Flag Day which fall on a Sunday are observed on the following Monday. The Attendance Rules and negotiated agreements identify which of these legal holidays are observed as paid holidays by New York State as an employer. This calendar does not modify negotiated agreements or Attendance Rules items on the subject of holidays. (See Section 21.1, Holidays, in this Manual.)

Information concerning the days of religious significance was obtained from official religious sources. Since it is not possible to include in this calendar the days of religious significance of every faith, agencies with questions about other religious observances should call the Attendance and Leave Unit of this Department at (518) 457-2295.

The calendar is intended as a guide, since special and local conditions may cause variation from official practice. It is impossible here to note every observance, such as an individual saint’s day, which ordinarily would not require absence from work.

The following further explains days of religious significance and the calendar notations:

  1. An asterisk (*) indicates a day of required religious observance. The letters before an asterisk indicate the faiths for which the day is a day of required religious observance. The abbreviations used correspond to the following denominations or subdenominations:

    EO - Eastern Orthodox
    P - Protestant
    RC - Roman Catholic
    OJ - Orthodox Jew
    CJ - Conservative Jew
    RJ - Reform Jew
    M - Muslim

  2. All days of religious significance for the Jewish faith begin at sundown on the evening before the date given.
  3. The Orthodox Jewish faith requires its members to observe each Saturday as the Sabbath. Its members are not permitted to travel by car or common carrier after sundown on Friday evening.
  4. Reform Jews observe one day of required religious observance at the beginning and end of holy days rather than the two days Conservative and Orthodox Jews observe.
  5. The Roman Catholic Church requires its members to attend Mass every Sunday and on days of required religious observance. In some areas, this obligation may be fulfilled by attending Mass after 4 p.m. on the preceding day. In some communities, the Solemnity of the Mother of God (January 1), The Assumption (August 15), and All Saints Day (November 1) are not considered to be days of required religious observance if they fall on a Saturday or a Monday.
  6. The Eastern Orthodox Church requires its members to attend Divine Liturgy on Sundays and on days of required religious observance.
  7. Some Eastern Orthodox churches, including many Russian Orthodox parishes, follow the Julian rather than the Gregorian calendar. For this reason, they celebrate certain days of religious significance 13 days later than the dates listed by the Eastern Orthodox Church.
  8. Members of the Islamic faith observe Fridays as their major day of worship. The fast of Ramadan begins at sundown on the evening before the date given; there is no prohibition on working during Ramadan. The two days of required religious observance are Eid-ul-Fitr (Festival of Fastbreaking) and Eid-ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice). Members of the Islamic faith are prohibited from working on those two days. All of the dates of Islamic observance are tentative because they are based on sightings of the moon. Those wishing to confirm the exact dates should call the Attendance and Leave Unit no more than 30 days before the date listed on the calendar.

MONTH

DATE

DAY

LEGAL HOLIDAYS

DAYS OF RELIGIOUS
SIGNIFICANCE

JANUARY

1

Sunday

New Year's Day(1)

Feast of the Circumcision (EO*)
Solemnity of the Mother of God (RC*)

2

Monday New Year's Day (Observed)  
6
Friday   Feast of Epiphany (EO*) (P) (RC)
16
Monday Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day  

18 to
25

Wednesday to
Wednesday
  Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (P) (RC)

FEBRUARY

2

Thursday

 

The Presentation of Christ (EO*)

3

Friday   World Community Day (P)

11

Saturday   Tu Bi Shevat (OJ, CJ, RJ)

12

Sunday

Lincoln's Birthday
(1,2)

 

13

Monday

Lincoln's Birthday (Observed)

 

18

Saturday

 

Saturday of Souls (EO)

20

Monday

Washington's Birthday (Observed)

 

25

Saturday

 

Saturday of Souls (EO)

MARCH

1

Wednesday

 

Ash Wednesday (P) (RC)

3

Friday

 

World Day of Prayer (P)

4

Saturday

 

Saturday of Souls (EO)

5

Sunday

 

Sunday of Orthodoxy (EO)
First Sunday of Lent (P)

9

Thursday

 

Fast of Esther (OJ, CJ, RJ)

12

Sunday

 

Purim (OJ, CJ, RJ)

25

Saturday

 

The Annunciation (EO*)

APRIL

9

Sunday

 

Palm Sunday (EO*) (P) (RC)

10

Monday

 

First Passover Seder (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

11

Tuesday

 

Passover (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

12

Wednesday

 

Passover (OJ*, CJ*, RJ)

13

Thursday

 

Holy Thursday (EO*) (RC)
Maundy Thursday (P)

13 to 16

Thursday to Sunday

 

Intermediate Days of
Passover (OJ, CJ, RJ)

14

Friday

 

Good Friday (EO*) (P) (RC)

15

Saturday

 

Holy Saturday (EO*)

16

Sunday

 

Easter Sunday (EO*) (P) (RC)

17

Monday

 

Passover (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

18

Tuesday

 

Passover (OJ*, CJ*)

21

Friday

 

The Feast of the Lifegiving Fountain (EO)

23

Sunday

 

The Feast of Saint George (EO)

24

Monday

 

Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day)

MAY

1

Monday

 

Yom Hazikaron (Day of Remembrance)

2

Tuesday

Yom Haatzmaut (Israel Independence Day)

5

Friday

 

May Friendship Day (P)

14

Sunday

 

Lag Ba Omer (OJ, CJ, RJ)

21

Sunday

 

Feast of Sts. Constantine and
Helen (EO)

24

Wednesday

 

Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day)

25

Thursday

 

Ascension Thursday (EO*) (P) (RC*)

27

Saturday

 

First Day of Ramadan (M) (3)

29

Monday

Memorial Day

 

31

Wednesday

 

Shavuot (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

 

JUNE

1

Thursday

Shavuot (OJ*, CJ*)

3

Saturday

  Saturday of Souls (EO)

4

Sunday

 

The Feast of the Holy Spirit (EO)
Pentecost (EO*) (P) (RC)

11

Sunday

Flag Day (4)

 

18

Sunday

  Corpus Christi (RC)

25

Sunday

 

All Saints Day (EO)
Eid-ul-Fitr (Festival of Fastbreaking) (M*)

29

Thursday

  Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (EO)

JULY

4

Tuesday

Independence Day

 

11

Tuesday  

The Fast of Tammuz (OJ, CJ, RJ)

AUGUST

1

Tuesday

 

Fast of AV (OJ, CJ, RJ)

6

Sunday

 

The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ (EO*)

15

Tuesday

 

The Repose of the Blessed Mother (EO*)
Nativity of the Theotokos (EO)
The Assumption (RC*)

SEPTEMBER

1

Friday

 

Eid-ul-Adha (Festival of Sacrifice) (M*)

4

Monday

Labor Day

 

14

Thursday

 

The Elevation of the Holy Cross (EO*)

21

Thursday

 

Rosh Hashanah (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

22

Friday

 

Rosh Hashanah (OJ*, CJ*, RJ)

29

Friday

 

Kol Nidre (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

30

Saturday

 

Yom Kippur (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

OCTOBER

1

Sunday

 

World Communion Sunday (P)

5

Thursday

 

Sukkot (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

6

Friday

 

Sukkot (OJ*, CJ*)

7 to 11

Saturday to Wednesday

 

Intermediate Days of Sukkot (OJ, CJ, RJ)

9

Monday

Columbus Day

 

12

Thursday

 

Shemini Atzeret (OJ*, CJ*, RJ*)

13

Friday

 

Simchat Torah (OJ*, CJ*)

26

Thursday

 

Feast of St. Demetrios (EO)

31

Monday   Reformation Day (P)

 

NOVEMBER

 

1

Wednesday

 

All Saints Day (P) (RC*)

2

Thursday

 

All Souls Day (RC)

7

Tuesday

Election Day

 

11

Saturday

Veterans' Day

 

21

Tuesday

 

Presentation of the Virgin Mary (EO*)

23

Thursday

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving Day (P)

DECEMBER

3

Sunday

 

First Sunday of Advent (P)

6

Wednesday

 

Feast of St. Nicholas (EO)

8

Friday

 

Feast of the Immaculate Conception (RC*)

13 to 20

Wednesday to Wednesday

 

Chanukah (OJ, CJ, RJ)

25

Monday

Christmas Day

Christmas Day (P)
Feast of the Nativity (EO*) (RC*)

26

Tuesday

 

First Day of Kwanzaa (5)

27

Wednesday

 

Feast of St. Stephen (EO)

(1) Under the Attendance Rules, when a holiday falls on a Sunday, it is observed on the following Monday.
(2) The State has designated Lincoln's Birthday as a floating holiday in 2017 for State employees in certain bargaining units.
(3) The observance of Ramadan is anticipated to begin on May 27, 2017. See introduction, Note 8.
(4) Flag Day, the second Sunday in June, is not observed on the following Monday, and is not a paid holiday for State employees.
(5) Kwanzaa actually ends on January 1, 2018.