Happy Monday, dear readers!

Your humble blogger hopes you enjoyed Thanksgiving, and are ready for the dare-devil sprint down towards Christmas and New Years’.  I for one am typing this with labored breath, as Thanksgiving Dinner has caused the humble blogger’s empire to expand its borders.

An interesting thing happened on that “iffy” day which some people refer to as “Black Friday.”  Some people were actually going to work!

Is Friday a working day?

Well, for many people it is – especially all those people trying to avoid being trampled while frantically restocking store shelves.

California’s list of officially recognized holidays includes Thanksgiving, November 27, but it also include Friday, November 27, which, since times of yore, was called “Day after Thanksgiving.”  As much as I dislike Black Friday, it has a nicer ring to it.

Ok, so it’s a holiday too? Because, as far as the Federal Gubmn’t is concerned – it isn’t.  So, last Friday, whether you were there to receive it or not, the Post Office delivered your mail.  So much for the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution…

As you will note, not every day, even one cherished and celebrated for years on end, is a holiday.  California continues to refuse to recognize “whacking day,” despite all your humble blogger’s efforts to include this great state to the contrary.

Anywho, various timelines require calculation of “working day,” including panel request dates (Labor Code section 4062.2(b) – “no earlier than the first working day…”); and five working days to authorize change of physician (Labor Code section 4601) (among others).

Unfortunately, working day seems to be vaguely defined.  If a particular company decides to close its office in observance of a non-State holiday, is that a working day?  If, by contrast, California recognizes the day after Thanksgiving as a holiday, but the adjuster sitting in an office in Texas is working, does that count as a working day?  In the absence of clear guidance, perhaps there is a triable fact to wiggle a settlement on a particular issue, depending on the facts.

The next time we have a round of reforms, we really should define what a working day is.  Perhaps “any day, other than Saturday, Sunday, or an official State Holiday.”

For now, it looks like having room for improvement in regards to the clarity of our Labor Code is just one more thing we have to be thankful for.

Gobble Gobble, dear readers!