In recognition of the upcoming Juneteenth Federal Holiday, the Indian Health Service has granted its employees a two hour early dismissal on Friday June 17th, 2022, with the exception of emergency/essential employees.
At the Warm Springs Health & Wellness Center, IHS Federal Staff have been authorized to take 2 hours administrative leave but will be working to get all staff out the door as soon as they are able to take care of patients with scheduled appointments.
Juneteenth commemorates the events of June 19, 1865, when Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, Texas to inform enslaved African Americans that the Civil War had ended and they were free. It has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865 and became recognized as a Federal Holiday on June 17, 2021.
The early dismissal does not apply to employees in the following status: (1) on leave without pay; (2) in receipt of workers’ compensation payments; (3) on military leave; (4) on suspension; or (5) in a non-pay status on the last hour of the scheduled workday immediately before and the first hour of the next scheduled workday immediately after the early dismissal. Since employees must be present in a duty status on Friday to benefit from the early dismissal, employees on previously approved leave (e.g. annual leave, sick leave, compensatory time, credit hours, etc.), or employees not scheduled to work due to a flexible or compressed work schedule, will remain in their current status and may not benefit from excused absence provided through the early dismissal.
