Holiday Pecking Order

NALC holiday schedule pecking order

Who has to work the holiday? Enter your city carriers once to build the schedule in contract order, or check a posted one for anyone scheduled out of order, with the Article 11.6 or JCAM rule for each finding.

Your carriers

Most senior first (CCAs by relative standing). Day off: the non-scheduled day in the holiday week. ODL: on the overtime desired list.

    Paste a list
    Pecking order

    Your local agreement (LMOU) wins over the default. Edit the steps to match its holiday article.

      Who has to work the holiday: the default order

      Management decides how many carriers, and which categories, it needs (Article 11.6.A). Unless your Local Memorandum of Understanding (LMOU) or past practice says otherwise, the JCAM fills those places in six steps:

      1. All part-time flexibles (PTF), to the maximum extent possible, even with overtime.
      2. Regulars (full-time regular FTR, full-time flexible FTF, part-time regular PTR) who volunteered to work their holiday or designated holiday, by seniority.
      3. City carrier assistants (CCA).
      4. Regulars who volunteered to work their non-scheduled day, by seniority.
      5. Regulars who did not volunteer, on their non-scheduled day, junior first.
      6. Regulars who did not volunteer, on their holiday or designated holiday, junior first.

      The tool runs this for the observed holiday and again for the designated holiday, where you enter the extra carriers needed beyond regulars on a normal workday.

      Example: Veterans' Day 2026

      November 11, 2026 is a Wednesday. Its service week starts Saturday, November 7, so the schedule must be posted by Tuesday, November 3. A carrier whose day off that week is Wednesday gets Tuesday, November 10 as the designated holiday. With 8 needed, 2 PTFs, 2 holiday volunteers and 3 CCAs fill 7 places and a volunteer on a Wednesday day off takes the eighth. Nobody is forced.

      Questions carriers and stewards ask

      What is my designated holiday?

      If your non-scheduled day falls on the day the holiday is observed, your scheduled workday before it becomes your holiday (Article 11.5.B). Juneteenth 2022 fell on a Sunday, so it was observed Monday, June 20, and a carrier with Mondays off had Saturday, June 18 as the designated holiday. The tool skips Sunday when it counts back; if your schedule includes Sundays, count back to your last scheduled workday instead.

      When does the holiday schedule have to be posted?

      As of the Tuesday before the Saturday to Friday service week that holds the holiday (Article 11.6.A). If it is late, full-time carriers who work their holiday or designated holiday get a holiday scheduling premium of 50% of base pay for up to 8 hours (ELM 434.53.c), except on Christmas.

      Is the overtime desired list used for holiday scheduling?

      Not unless your LMOU says so. The JCAM says the overtime desired lists are not used for holiday coverage absent LMOU provisions, and the default order applies whether or not a carrier is on the ODL. A volunteer has volunteered for eight hours; work beyond that goes by the Article 8 overtime rules.

      Our LMOU has its own pecking order. Which one counts?

      Yours. Article 30.B.13 lets the local parties set the method of choosing who works a holiday, and the JCAM default applies only where the LMOU and past practice are silent. Open Pecking order above and rebuild the steps to match your LMOU; it is saved with your carriers.

      What if I was forced in out of order?

      Talk to your steward soon: an informal Step A grievance must be raised with your supervisor within 14 days of learning of it (Article 15.2). The JCAM describes remedies such as pay for an overlooked volunteer's lost hours. Check mode here lists who was scheduled ahead of whom, with the rule cited.

      Does the pecking order apply when there is less than 8 hours of work?

      The January 2021 national settlement M-01937 says the normal pecking order is used where there are eight or more hours of work available. For shorter jobs, such as a few hours of parcels, check your LMOU and ask your branch. Tick the box on that day and the result carries the warning.

      Sources: 2023-2026 USPS-NALC National Agreement (Article 11.5 and 11.6, p. 33; Article 15.2, p. 62; Article 30.B.13, p. 100) · JCAM, December 2025 (pp. 11-3 to 11-6; p. 8-31) · The Postal Record, May 2022, "Holiday schedules" (pp. 42-43) · M-01937 settlement, January 2021.

      The 2023-2026 agreement expired May 22, 2026 and stays in force until a new agreement or arbitration award takes effect (NALC, May 22, 2026). No new award had been issued as of October 19, 2026; check its Article 11 when it comes.

      Not affiliated with the Postal Service or NALC, and not legal advice. Your steward and branch have the final word.