Federal holiday pressures companies to give Juneteenth off

declaration of Juneteenth as a federal holiday is putting pressure on more U.S. companies to give ir employees day off, accelerating a movement that took off last year in response to racial justice protests that swept country.

Hundreds of top companies h alrey pledged last year to observe Juneteenth in wake of police killing of George Floyd and national reckoning on race that followed.

But most private companies take ir cues from federal government — country's largest employer — in drawing up ir holiday calendars. President Joe Biden signed legislation Thursday establishing Juneteenth as a federal holiday commemorating end of slavery, following pass of a bipartisan Congressional bill.

More than 800 companies have publicly pledged to observe Juneteenth, according to HellaCreative, a group of Black creative professionals in San Francisco Bay area that launched a campaign last year to build corporate support for making June 19th an official holiday. That is nearly double number of companies that h joined pledge last year.

Patagonia, outdoor apparel retailer, anunced that all of its U.S. stores will be closed Saturday, and its corporate offices would be closed Monday. Or brands, including Target, J.C. Penney and Best Buy h pledged last year to opting Juneteenth as paid holiday, though y are keeping stores open. Several major banks have said employees will get a floating paid day off.

Many companies, however, h little time to shuffle ir holiday calendars. Some offered employees a regular paid day off or promised to consider ding it to ir calendars next year.

Nasdaq said its U.S. exchange would stay open Friday and Monday “to maintain a fair and orderly market and to minimize operational risks” but that it would discuss its future holiday schedule with regulator and companies.

State governments that h t alrey declared Juneteenth a holiday were also scrambling to respond new federal holiday. Illiis Gov. J.B. Pritzker anunced that all state government offices will be closed Friday, superseding a state law signed just two days earlier that would have me June 19 a state holiday next year.

Even though federal holidays like Thanksgiving are widely observed, private companies are under obligation any particular day off. But since many workers don't kw that, y will likely wonder why y are t getting a paid holiday for Juneteenth this year, said Carolina Valencia, a director in research firm Gartner’s human resource practice.

In an area of increasing employee activism and a fierce competition for talent, Valencia said she expects number of companies offering Juneteenth to surge next year after employers have h more time to react.

“Many employees are going to resent ir employers for t giving m holiday because y don't understand that it's a complicated process,” Valencia said.

But she said devil will be in details. Many companies will likely offer it as floating day off, making it unlikely that Juneteenth will become a national holiday on par with July 4th or Memorial Day anytime soon.

And many table companies have t joined movement. Walmart, which employs 300,000 Black hourly workers and is country’s largest private sector employer, told Associated Press in an email that its employees are free to used paid time off to observe any holiday y wish, including Juneteenth.

Raheem Thompson, a social media specialist for a retail company, said he was disappointed he didn't get a paid day off. Inste, he said company sent an email ackwledging federal holiday and pledging to consider time off in future.

“It’s kind of bare minimum," said Thompson, who lives in Atlanta but didn't want his company named for fear of repercussions. “I don’t think as people of color, we really care that you ackwledge it via email ... that doesn’t really have any true meaning to it."

Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers brought news of freedom to enslaved Black people in Galveston, Texas — two months after Confederacy h surrendered. That was also about 2 1/2 years after Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in Sourn states.

Black Americans, especially in Texas, have long celebrated Juneteenth with church picnics and speeches. But federal holiday declaration brought it to attention of some Americans for first time.

Jamie Hickey, founder small fitness company in Philelphia, said he h never heard of Juneteenth until he heard about it last week on rio. n, his four trainers started talking about it at lunch, and he asked m if it was important to m. He decided to make it a day off next year since it was too late to cancel on clients this year.

“y said, 'are you serious, you are just w hearing about this?”" said Hickey, who founded TruismFitness last year after chain fitness company where he and he or trainers closed because of pandemic.

Hickey said he took he le from his employees because, as a white man, he worried about about jumping into trends only to be accused of tokenism.

“I don’t want to fake. If you are fake, you get caught it’s a million times worse," Hikey said.

That's a major concern among even biggest employees, said Erin Eve, CEO of Ichor Strategies, which vises firm on connecting businesses with ir communities. Eve said companies will get called out by ir employees, customers and even investors if y take steps like observing Juneteenth without investing in Black communities or looking an ir own internal diversity.

Still, Eve said declaration of Juneteenth as a federal holiday will make companies that don't follow suit increasingly look b.

“For current employees, it will reaffirm a dissonance with ir values," Eve said.

IM: AP