OPM Confirms Most Federal Employees Will Receive Friday, June 18 Off in Observance of New Juneteenth Federal Holiday

Congress passed legislation this week making June 19 a federal holiday in observance of Juneteenth. The date celebrates the arrival of Union troops in Galveston, Texas following the end of the Civil War. While two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was signed, the date is viewed as the effective end of slavery in the United States.