More than 100,000 state employees will get three extra days off this year after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis decided to give the workers additional time away from the job.
The three days—December 23, 24 and 31—come in addition to the normally scheduled holidays on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.
"Florida is in great shape, and we want to reward our state employees," DeSantis said in a statement. "After a full year—including three costly hurricanes—we hope these extra days off allow for state workers to spend more time with their families and loved ones during this holiday season."
Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, called the move by DeSantis a "welcome" change.
"The gesture of adding additional paid holidays to the calendar is always a welcome one, and Governor DeSantis' decision to do so is certainly in line with past decisions by governors of other states," Beene told Newsweek.
"For states that don't already recognize days like Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve as state holidays, expansions of holidays like this one typically happens when the state budget allows it," he said.
HR consultant Bryan Driscoll, however, called DeSantis' move a "cheap political stunt" instead of a gesture of employee support.
"He's trying to paper over years of anti-worker policies with a feel-good headline. It's the equivalent of tossing crumbs to workers while gutting unions and stripping away job protections," Driscoll told Newsweek.
While state employees are likely to enjoy a few extra days off, the decision doesn't deal with some important issues, he said.
"This move does nothing to address the real issues facing workers in Florida, like the lack of paid family leave or protections for low-wage workers," Driscoll said. "It reflects a government more interested in optics than substance, prioritizing political games over real, lasting change for the workforce."
When DeSantis ran for the GOP nomination for president, he focused much of his campaign on how efficiently he ran the state's small employee base, even though Florida is the third most populous state.
"Florida state government [has the] lowest number of state employees per capita in the country," DeSantis said at a CNN town hall in January.
In 2022, Florida had 164,829 employees, including both full- and part-time workers. And while the national average was 198 state government workers per 10,000 residents, Florida had just 82 state employees per 10,000 residents.
Florida financial picture looks good this year, Beene said, and many state employees might have worked longer hours than expected because of Hurricanes Milton, Helene and Debby, which all made landfall in the Sunshine State.
"State revenues are strong, some employees worked longer hours than expected due to multiple natural disasters, and Christmas and New Year's falling in the middle of the week make it difficult for employees wanting to spend additional time with their families capable of doing so," he said.
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