The holiday schedules of public colleges and universities, including technical colleges, may be observed on different dates than shown below in accordance with S.C. Code Section 53-5-10.

2025 Holiday Schedule

  • New Year's Day — Wednesday, January 1
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day — Monday, January 20
  • George Washington's Birthday / Presidents Day — Monday, February 17 
  • Confederate Memorial Day — Friday, May 9
  • National Memorial Day — Monday, May 26
  • Independence Day — Friday, July 4
  • Labor Day — Monday, September 1 
  • Veterans Day — Tuesday, November 11
  • Thanksgiving Day — Thursday, November 27 
  • Day after Thanksgiving Day — Friday, November 28
  • Christmas Eve — Wednesday, December 24
  • Christmas Day — Thursday, December 25 
  • Day after Christmas — Friday, December 26

Generally, if a holiday falls on a Saturday, employees working a Monday through Friday schedule will observe the holiday on the preceding Friday. If a holiday falls on a Sunday, employees working a Monday through Friday schedule will observe the holiday on the following Monday.   

Employees in FTE positions are eligible for paid holidays. Time limited project and temporary grant employees may also be eligible for paid holidays when the time limited contract or grant permits the eligibility. Temporary employees are not eligible for paid holidays.

The holiday schedules of colleges and universities may be modified based on the academic schedule, but the number of holidays cannot exceed the number of holidays allowed by the state and as stated in the State Human Resources Regulation 19-708.02.

  • If an employee is required to work on a holiday, the employee will earn holiday compensatory time equal to all hours worked during the holiday, not to exceed the employee’s average workday.
  • An employee not following an academic schedule should be allowed to use holiday compensatory time within 90 days of the holiday.  An agency head or designee may allow a non-exempt employee an additional 90 days to use holiday compensatory time. The request must be made prior to the end of the original 90-day period and must be based on limited staffing. 
  • An employee following an academic schedule should be allowed to use holiday compensatory time within one year of the holiday. 
  • If a non-exempt employee is unable to use the holiday compensatory time within the required timeframe, the employee should be compensated for the holiday by the employing agency at the straight hourly rate of pay for the employee. 
  • If a non-exempt employee transfers to another state agency, the agency the employee is leaving should compensate the employee for any holiday compensatory time the employee has earned. 
  • Non-exempt employees should be compensated for all holiday compensatory time upon separation from employment. An exempt employee cannot be paid for unused holiday compensatory time upon separation from employment.
  • The length of an employee's holiday is computed based on the number of hours in the employee's average workday. The number of hours in a holiday is determined by dividing the total number of hours an employee is regularly scheduled to work during a week by five (regardless of the number of days the employee actually reports to work).  

    Example:
    Employee work schedule:
    Monday — 5 hours
    Tuesday — 10 hours
    Wednesday — 5 hours
    Thursday — 10 hours
    Friday — 7.5 hours
    37.5 hours worked per week
    Average workday = 37.5/5=7.5 hours

    Since the employee’s average workday is 7.5 hours, they would receive 7.5 hours for each holiday. In this example, if the holiday fell on Monday, and the employee worked on that day, the employee would receive 2.5 hours of holiday time and 5 hours of holiday compensatory time.
     
  • For an employee working on a compressed workweek, they are eligible to receive holiday compensatory time equal to the number of hours in their average workday when a holiday falls on a non-scheduled workday. 

    Example:
    If an employee works 10 hours a day Monday–Thursday and is not scheduled to work on Fridays, they will receive holiday compensatory time for any holiday that falls on Friday.  The amount of holiday compensatory time will be granted based on their average work day.
     
  • An employee who is required to work a portion of a holiday due to a shift that begins on one day and ends on another, shall be granted holiday compensatory time equal to all hours actually worked on the holiday.
  • A part-time employee in an FTE position who is not scheduled to work on a holiday will receive holiday compensatory time based on the number of hours in his average workday.

  • An employee on paid leave (i.e. sick or annual leave) the day before a holiday is entitled to the holiday leave and is not required to take paid leave for that holiday.
  • An employee who is on leave without pay the day before a holiday should not be paid or receive holiday compensatory time for holidays falling during this period of leave without pay.
  • If a holiday occurs during a period when an employee is taking FMLA leave and is on paid leave, the holiday is counted as a day of FMLA leave and included in the total 12 workweeks of FMLA leave an employee is eligible to receive during each calendar year.  In addition, the employee is paid for the holiday.