University of Missouri System officials are evaluating how to implement a new paid state holiday for system employees granted in a law signed Wednesday.
Gov. Mike Kehoe signed House Bill 419 on Wednesday. The law deals with veterans’ issues and includes language stating “the eleventh day of November of each year shall be a public holiday for all employees of the University of Missouri system in observance of Veterans Day.”
The federal Veterans Day holiday is celebrated on Nov. 11 each year, regardless of the day of the week it falls on. This year, Nov. 11 is a Tuesday when classes and other university system activities would normally be conducted.
“This is a huge victory for our union and for all UM-System workers,” said Andrew Hutchinson, union representative and organizing director for LiUNA Local 955, in a news release.
Mizzou spokesperson Travis Zimpfer said in an email that officials “are still currently evaluating how best to implement this change. We will communicate with the campus community once those implementation plans have been finalized.”
“Mizzou is deeply committed to our veterans,” Zimpfer said. “With partnerships in innovative research and clinical care with the Harry S. Truman Memorial Veterans’ Hospital to legal services through the Mizzou Law Veterans Clinic, Mizzou impacts the lives of veterans each and every day.”
The UM System “thanks Kehoe, Sen. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, and the Missouri legislature for recognizing the important contributions of veterans through HB 419,” he said. Webber has been credited by other legislators with working to have the holiday language included in the law.
The system’s website notes that nine days are official system holidays:
- New Year’s Day
- Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Memorial Day
- Juneteenth
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving Day and the Friday after
- Christmas Day
Other days may be designated by the president, the site says. All full-time administrative, service and support employees are entitled to receive eight hours pay for these holidays, according to the website.
Veterans Day was originally designated Armistice Day to honor those who fought in World War I and later expanded to honor U.S. veterans of all wars.
