Obama gives feds half-day on Christmas Eve

President Obama has an early Christmas gift for some federal employees: a half-day on Christmas Eve.

Obama issued an executive order on Friday excusing executive branch employees from work for the afternoon of Thursday, Dec. 24. 

But there’s a catch.

{mosads}”The heads of executive branch departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must remain on duty for the full scheduled workday on December 24, 2015, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need,” reads the order.

In other words, employees can be told to work the whole day if their jobs are important enough.

Those who do get the afternoon off will still get paid.

“Most employees who are excused from duty for the last half of the scheduled workday on December 24th will receive the basic pay they would have received if no Executive order had been issued,” says a memo from Beth F. Cobert, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.