As we know holiday that fall on the weekends are genrally moved to friday or monday. but how do you pay when half the employees work on the observed holiday and the other half works monday through fri?

Answer 1

The question is not well phrased. If an hourly employee is required to work on a federal holiday, usually the employer is obliged to pay time-and-a-half. Workers on days that are not federal holidays get regular pay. If the actual holiday falls on a day that isn't the federally observed holiday (for example, the actual holiday falls on a Saturday, but the observed holiday is the following Monday, and a particular employee normally works on Saturdays), tough noogies, the employer is not required to pay a bonus to people who work on that holiday... only the official federal holiday counts.

Also, salaried employees are usually expected to "work to the job, not to the clock." If you're on salary and it's necessary for you to work on a holiday, then you work on the holiday. You get no bonus pay for doing so; it's considered part of your job and your compensation is supposed to already take into account the fact that you may have to work overtime or holidays. (However, most employers who require salaried employees to work on holidays give them compensatory leave ... they get to take some other day off instead of having the holiday off).