Holiday Phone Coverage Planner for Small Businesses

Usually not. In the US, federal holidays govern federal offices; the Department of Labor notes the Fair Labor Standards Act doesn't require pay for holidays not worked, so closing is your call (state law and contracts can add rules). In Canada, the Canada Labour Code's general holidays bind federally regulated employers, and each province sets holiday and holiday-pay rules for everyone else. This page is planning help, not legal advice.

Five things, in this order: your business name, that you're closed (or your reduced hours) for the named holiday, the day and time you reopen, what an urgent caller should do, and what to leave — name, number and what they need. Keep it under about 30 seconds.

No. Neither is on the list of US federal holidays in 5 U.S.C. 6103, and New Year's Eve isn't either. They're common reduced-hours days, which is why the planner lists them separately as observances.

In the US, a Saturday holiday is observed on the Friday before and a Sunday holiday on the Monday after. Under the Canada Labour Code, New Year's Day, Canada Day, September 30, Remembrance Day, Christmas and Boxing Day falling on a weekend move to the working day before or after; the planner uses the following weekday, which is the common choice — check what your employer or province does.

No. Both are general holidays under the Canada Labour Code for federally regulated employers, but provinces set their own lists. Ontario, for example, includes Boxing Day but not Remembrance Day.

For routine calls it can be, if the greeting is updated. It falls short when a caller needs an answer now — an emergency, a booking for the week you reopen, a question about your hours. A live or AI answering line can answer those, capture details and text you only what's urgent.