As fall kicks into gear, employers should accommodate workers' requests for time off for religious holidays, seasonal illnesses and voting, and businesses that employ minors should watch for requirements that kick in during the school year, attorneys said.
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While employers generally provide time off for federal holidays in autumn, like Thanksgiving, they must also consider how to treat fall holidays for certain communities, such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Diwali, attorneys said.
The key is consistency, said Travis Jang-Busby of management-side firm Blank Rome LLP.
"You don't want it to look like you're favoring one group over the other," he said.
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But Jang-Busby said floating holidays can open up employers to issues, such as claims that such time off counts as vacation time, which must be paid out in certain jurisdictions if unused.
To avoid such a claim, "you have to structure the policy where it's absolutely clear that it's to be used in conjunction with something like a nonfederal holiday and not just used at will," he said. "When somebody has a day off that they can use at will, that looks a lot like vacation."
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"5 Wage and Hour Compliance Tips for Fall," by Max Kutner was published in Law360 Employment Authority on September 25, 2025.
