Could it be that El Paso County employees has more have more days off each year than the French?

Oui, it’s true.

The French observe 11 national holidays, while El Paso County lets its employees stay home 17 days a year, including today, Juneteenth.

In France, workers also get five weeks of paid vacation a year, which, when added to the holidays, tallies to 36 days off.

County employees with more than 15 years on the job receive four weeks of vacation, or 20 days, which means those workers enjoy 37 days off a year.

Finding countries that offer more holidays than El Paso County is difficult because there aren't many. The Philippines and Thailand have 18, Tanzania has 19 and the nation with the most may be Sri Lanka with 27 holidays.

El Paso County Commissioner Veronica Escobar is in her first term and already is tired of defending the county’s holiday schedule.

This year, it’s Juneteeth; last year it was St. Patrick’s Day holiday.

“This is such a dead horse,” she said. “I’ll say the same thing I say every holiday. We made a commitment in the last budget to increase the number of holidays we offer county employees.

“We consulted with the human resources department director and asked her if we’re doing anything that is competitive for our employees and the answer was no. We’re not even competitive with the city of El Paso.”

So, while the county cannot offer wages and salaries that are competitive in the public or private market, she said, the decision has been made to improve benefits.

“We have a very good health insurance plan,” Escobar said. “We have a very good healthy retirement plan, and we offer 17 holidays.

“All of that helps us retain talent at the courthouse. Either we do that or we raise taxes to increase salaries to the city level.”

The city has nine legal holidays and the federal government has 10.

Irritated to hear that the suggestion that the county’s Juneteenth holiday warranted news media attention came from a city official, Escobar noted that the city manager and her assistants, department heads and lawyers are paid far more than top county employees.

Commissioner Dan Haggerty said the county pays out close to $300,000 in salaries and wages for a holiday, the same as for a work day.

The county's elected officials 'can do whatever they want'

In addition to the county's official holidays, he said, elected officials from the county clerk, judges and commissioners to justices of the peace and the sheriff can give employees days off at will.

"We're different from the city in that these are elected officials, and they can do whatever they want," he said. "We had a JP dethroned in May of last year, and he cut off his office for the rest of the year, sent them home for six months. It never came out, but it happens all the time.

"You can ask the county attorney, Jose Rodriguez, if an official loses the primary and goes home and tells his staff to go home, can he do that? Jose will say, 'Oh, yes, they can do that, and there is no recourse.' "

Haggerty declined to name the justice of the peace, eliciting a sharp jab from Escobar, who said those situations should be brought to Commissioners Court's attention.

As for the county's public holidays, the county offers more than any European country, most of which offer 11 to 14 days off, except Estonia, which offers 22. Mexico offers 14, including nine public and five religious holidays.

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To reach David Crowder, write to dcrowder@epmediagroup.com or call (915) 351-0605, ext. 30, or 630-6622.

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