Gov declares Fridays before Christmas and New Year as ASG holidays

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — In a memorandum dated Dec. 20th and released yesterday by the Governor’s Office, Gov. Lemanu Peleti Mauga declared two holidays this month, as American Samoa is already in a festive mood to celebrate Christmas and ring in the New Year 2022.

The governor said that Christmas Day, Saturday, Dec. 25th, will be observed as a holiday in American Samoa on Friday, Dec. 24th. Furthermore, New Year’s Day, Saturday, Jan. 01, 2022 will be observed on Friday, Dec. 31st.

And all government offices will be closed and normal activities will be suspended on those days. Employees of ASG who are not required to perform essential services shall be excused and employees required to perform duties on those days will receive holiday wages in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.

“Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication. Have a safe and enjoyable holiday season,” the governor concluded.

Even before the governor issued the memo, ASG departments and agencies were already planning for Dec. 24th and Dec. 31st as holidays for December with many employees already aware of it.

The two local financial institutions, ANZ Amerika Samoa Bank and Territorial Bank of American Samoa confirmed yesterday that they would also be closed on these two declared ASG holidays.

Many in the private sector will be working on Christmas Eve especially retail stores that will be accommodating  last minute shoppers, while some businesses plan to allow workers to go home early to celebrate the holidays with their families and will operate for only half a day.

StarKist Samoa, the largest private employer in the territory, is currently on a two-week end of the year annual shutdown and returns to production on Jan. 3, 2022. Samoa News will have a print edition on Friday, Dec. 24th.