ATTENDANCE AND LEAVE MANUAL
TRANSMITTAL MEMORANDUM NO. 46
Appendix B
January 2021

TO: Manual Recipients
FROM: Jessica Rowe, 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	January 2021
(2) 2021 Calendar of Legal Holidays and Days of Religious Significance	Appendix B	3-6	January 2021

 

The following material should be retained until July 31, 2021, and then removed from your copy of the Manual and destroyed.

	Section	Pages	Date
(1) Introduction	Appendix B	1-2	July 2019
(2) 2020 Calendar of Legal Holidays and Days of Religious Significance	Appendix B	3-6	July 2019

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.