 |
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO | Staff | Links |
|
The Meaning of Legal Holidays
By GREGORY A. CROUSE The recent observance of Martin Luther King's birthday as a legal holiday brings to light a question frequently asked by municipal officials at this time of year — is city hall required to be closed on the day set for the observance of Martin Luther King's birthday or, for that matter, on any other holiday? The answer is no and it often surprises municipal officials because State and federal offices as well as many city halls and private businesses are closed on such days. The statutes, however, contain no requirement that municipal offices must be closed on legal holidays. Those that do close, do so by choice or because employees have won the right to take the day off in contract negotiations. In fact, it appears that the only law on the books that directly relates to the conduct of municipal business on holidays is found in the Open Meetings Act. The Act prohibits public meetings from being held on a "legal holiday" unless the regular meeting day falls on that holiday. Other than this limitation and the limitation that municipalities, including home rule units, that own or operate cemeteries may not prohibit burials on Sundays or holidays, the statutes do not restrict municipal operations on holidays. Even though these restrictions are in place, they are not severe restrictions for only special or rescheduled public meetings and not the conduct of other types of business is prohibited on holidays. Also, although burials may not be prohibited, they may be limited to decedents whose time of death and religious beliefs necessitate Sunday or holiday burials. A "legal holiday" is a day so designated by the General Assembly in a legislative enactment. Consequently, certain activities that must or cannot occur on such days also are provided for in the statutes. But, without a statutory provision restricting certain activities, it is not compulsory to refrain from anything on a legal holiday. Again, although the law prohibits banks from transacting business and teachers from being required to work on legal holidays, there is no similar restriction on municipalities or municipal employees. Rather than creating one list of legal holidays in the statutes, the General Assembly has placed them in three different areas: (1) the General Provisions of Chapter 1, (2) the Banking and Finance provisions of Chapter 17 ("Banking Code"), and (3) the School Code, which is Chapter 122. The legal holidays listed in the Banking and School Codes basically are the same twelve and are listed below. There are, however, a few differences. For example, the days upon which the general elections for members of the House of Representatives of this State are held are specified by the Banking Code as legal holidays, but are not so specified in the School Code. In addition, banks in cities of over 200,000 population are required to observe "half holidays" from noon until midnight on Saturdays that are not legal holidays. The School Code, on the other hand, lists certain commemorative holidays, such as Susan B. Anthony Day, which are not found in the Banking Code. Finally, the General Provisions of the statutes provide for five legal holidays, all of which are included in the other two areas, along with numerous commemorative days. For purposes of interpreting the restrictions against certain public meetings on legal holidays in the Open Meetings Act and for other municipal purposes, the legal holidays listed in the Banking Code should be used (ch. 17, par. 2201). Legal holidays should not be thought of as Sundays. Their legal status is different unless a statute provides that a holiday is to be treated as a Sunday for a particular purpose. This occurs in the Banking Code which provides that holidays are to be treated as Sundays. Also, the Banking Code provides that when a holiday falls on a Sunday, the Monday thereafter is considered to be that holiday. It is important to note that legal holidays can affect time computations which must be made by municipal officials under the law in various situations. For instance, municipalities that are forced to remove garbage from a resident's property due to the neglect of the resident have 60 days to file a lien against the property for the cost of the removal. Generally, such time peri- March 1988 / Illinois Municipal Review /'Page 21 ods must be computed by excluding the first day and including the last. This is not so, however, if the last day is a Saturday, Sunday or a holiday. In such cases, that day would be excluded from the time computation as well. Further, if the day before a Saturday, Sunday or holiday which falls on the last day of a time period is also a Saturday, Sunday or holiday, it too must be excluded from the time computation. Thus, if the 60th day for filing a garbage removal lien falls on a Monday that is a holiday, that Monday and the succeeding Sunday must be excluded from the computation and the lien can be filed as late as the following Wednesday. Commemorative holidays and days of special observance are established in various parts of the statutes. Some provide simply that they are days designated for the holding of appropriate events and observances throughout the State. Some are established to promote an idea or rememberance. Commemorative holidays generally do not require that specified events or observances must be undertaken. Many commemorative holidays, however, require the holding of appropriate exercises in public schools. These days are regular school days, but teachers and students are required by the statutes to devote a portion of the day to study and honor the person or occasion which is the subject of the holiday. The following are lists of legal and commemorative holidays provided for in the Illinois Revised Statutes;
Page 22 / lllinois Municipal Review / March 1988
|Home|
|Search|
|Back to Periodicals Available|
|Table of Contents|
|Back to Illinois Municipal Review 1988|
|