Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2018
Signed: December 18, 2018
Published: December 21, 2018
Document Number: 2018-27945
📋Summary
This executive order closes all federal executive departments and agencies on Monday, December 24, 2018, and excuses most federal employees from work that day. It affects executive-branch agencies and their employees, while allowing agency leaders to keep certain offices open and require some staff to work if needed for national security, defense, or other public needs. It directs that December 24 be treated like other authorized federal closings for purposes of employee pay and leave. It instructs the Office of Personnel Management to carry out the order, and notes it must be implemented under existing law and available funding.
💼Business Impact
This order primarily affects businesses that rely on federal offices being open for filings, approvals, inspections, or in-person services—especially government contractors, importers/exporters and logistics firms, regulated industries (healthcare, finance, energy, aviation), and any company with time-sensitive interactions with agencies (e.g., permits, visas, customs, grants). Compliance obligations don’t change, but processing and response times may: expect delays in agency reviews, procurement actions, FOIA responses, and certain enforcement/inspection activities, while “essential” functions (national security/public need) may still operate. Businesses should immediately adjust project timelines and submission dates around the closure, confirm which agency units remain open for critical transactions, and ensure internal staffing/customer communications cover potential federal-service downtime (e.g., customs clearance, contract modifications, or regulatory deadlines).
Full Text
Executive Order 13854 of December 18, 2018
Providing for the Closing of Executive Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government on December 24, 2018
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows:
Section 1 . All executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government shall be closed and their employees excused from duty on Monday, December 24, 2018, the day before Christmas Day.
Sec. 2 . The heads of executive departments and agencies may determine that certain offices and installations of their organizations, or parts thereof, must remain open and that certain employees must report for duty on December 24, 2018, for reasons of national security, defense, or other public need.
Sec. 3 . December 24, 2018, shall be considered as falling within the scope of Executive Order 11582 of February 11, 1971, and of 5 U.S.C. 5546 and 6103(b) and other similar statutes insofar as they relate to the pay and leave of employees of the United States.
Sec. 4 . The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall take such actions as may be necessary to implement this order.
Sec. 5 . General Provisions. (a) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(b) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
( printed page 65482)(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 18, 2018.