President Drake: UC system to observe Juneteenth holiday on June 28; clinical operations unaffected

With President Joe Biden declaring yesterday the establishment of Juneteenth as a federal holiday, University of California President Michael V. Drake announced today his intention to add it to the UC system’s slate of holidays.

In a statement to the UC community, Drake said the UC will observe the holiday in 2021 on Monday, June 28. All employees in nonclinical settings will have the day to rest, recharge, and reflect on the import of the holiday, established to commemorate the end of slavery in the U.S.

Starting in 2022, the UC holiday will be observed according to the federal calendar, closer to the actual Juneteenth, June 19 – the date in 1865 when enslaved people in Texas learned they were free.

Given the need to provide uninterrupted care for our communities, clinical operations will be unaffected at all UC Health locations on June 28. At UC Davis Health, no patient appointments should be canceled.

For the parts of UC Davis Health who are able to modify their operations to observe the holiday on June 28, managers and supervisors are encouraged to confirm (through their senior managers) the direction from either their Dean or respective Chief Operating Officer about whether/how the holiday should be observed for their unit.

For those units that may need a limited number of employees to work, and presuming other employees are capable of performing the same work, managers and supervisors may want to ask for volunteers for coverage of necessary operations on the 28th.

For those areas that deliver patient care, conduct research, or support these efforts and where work must be performed on June 28, existing policy and labor contract language for holidays worked will apply. This generally provides for holiday pay in addition to their regular pay, or exempt employees are expected to be offered an alternative day off in the same pay period.

For UC Davis Health employees that report time using the Ecotime time and attendance application, the new holiday will be populated to the employee’s timesheet on June 28, 2021.

School of Medicine leadership is working closely with its course directors to determine how to best implement the observance of the Juneteenth holiday and will provide additional guidance early next week.

Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing will be cancelling classes on June 28. Any students in a clinical rotation will report to work as assigned.

UC Davis Health employees: please ask your manager/supervisor if you have any questions.