1. State employees are granted, except as provided in subsection 3, the following holidays off from employment with pay:

 a. New Year’s Day, January 1.
 b. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday, the third Monday in January.
 c. Memorial Day, the last Monday in May.
 d. Independence Day, July 4.
 e. Labor Day, the first Monday in September.
 f. Veterans Day, November 11.
 g. Thanksgiving Day, the fourth Thursday in November.
 h. Friday after Thanksgiving, the Friday following Thanksgiving Day.
 i. Christmas Day, December 25.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 1C.2

  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories, and the words "United States" may include the said district and territories. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. a. State employees are granted two days of paid leave each year to be added to the vacation allowance and accrued under the provisions of section 70A.1. In addition, an appointing authority shall grant not more than four additional days of paid leave each year as required to implement contract provisions negotiated pursuant to chapter 20.

 b. The executive council may designate days off from employment with pay in addition to those enumerated in this section for state employees at its discretion.
 3. If a holiday enumerated in this section falls on Saturday, the preceding Friday shall be granted and if a holiday enumerated in this section falls on Sunday, the following Monday shall be granted. In those cases, where by nature of the employment a state employee must be required to work on a holiday the provisions of subsection 1 shall not apply, however, compensation shall be made on the basis of the employee’s straight time hourly rate for a forty-hour workweek and shall be made in either compensatory time off or cash payment, at the discretion of the appointing authority unless otherwise provided for in a collective bargaining agreement. Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, an employee of the state who does not accrue sick leave or vacation, and who works on a holiday, shall receive regular pay for the hours worked on that holiday and shall not otherwise earn holiday compensatory pay.
 4. A holiday or paid leave granted to a state employee under this section shall be in addition to vacation time to which a state employee is entitled under section 70A.1.