2021 Holidays and Your Payroll

The fourth quarter of a calendar year is a great time to begin planning for the upcoming year. For payroll and HR professionals, part of preparing for the next year is making note of the federal banking holidays and determining if they will fall within your payroll processing schedule.

The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System maintains a list of federal banking holidays for the current year and the following four years. Bank files, including direct deposit files, do not move on federal banking holidays. So, if a holiday falls during your payroll processing period, you’ll want to move up the processing schedule to ensure your workers are paid on time. If your check date falls directly on a holiday, it is common practice to adjust your payday to the previous business day.

Below is a table of holidays, payroll processing dates, and check dates. Our table is based on the following assumptions:

• Your scheduled check date falls on a holiday (or the Friday after Thanksgiving)
• You would like to pay your employees the business day before
• You follow a two-day processing timeline

Visit the Federal Reserve website for all banking holiday dates through 2024.