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In 2025, U.S. businesses and employees alike are paying closer attention to vacation and PTO policies, especially as summer approaches and teams plan time off.
A new overview from the Center for American Progress highlights that while 88% of private-sector workers have some form of PTO, low-income and part-time employees are far less likely to have access. Notably, only three states—Maine, Nevada, and Illinois—mandate general-use PTO, adding to the patchwork of local and municipal laws.
In the federal sector, employees enjoy eleven holidays in 2025, including the relatively new Juneteenth on June 19th. NBC and local media are already publishing smart strategies: by timing PTO around federal holidays, employees can stretch 16 PTO days into 55 vacation days. For example, linking Juneteenth and Independence Day to create multiple long weekends.
Ready to see how your policy stacks up across all 50 states?
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There’s also a fresh wrinkle in remote-work policy making headlines. This week, federal workers were told to go remote ahead of a major parade in D.C., marking a rare reversal of returning-office mandates, highlighting the nuanced interplay between work location and time-off policy.
Our 50 state chart on vacation & PTO provisions is the perfect complement to this emerging narrative. It lays out state-by-state rules such as whether states allow caps on accrual or enforce “use it or lose it” policies. For instance, California, Colorado, Montana, and Nebraska all prohibit forfeiting earned PTO; other states impose caps or allow employers to decide.
For multistate employers, a vacation policy that works in Washington, D.C. might not hold up in California or Nebraska. Our chart makes compliance straightforward, a vital resource as 2025 PTO strategy becomes a boardroom conversation.
With federal holidays offering built-in opportunities to extend time off (especially around holidays like Juneteenth and Labor Day), now is the ideal moment to audit your PTO policy and ensure it aligns with both legal obligations and employee expectations. And in an age where remote or situational work is reemerging in news, for example, in last week’s federal telework memo, employers should consider how location flexibility intersects with the PTO landscape.
Curious how your PTO structure compares? Or need a tailored plan for multistate compliance?
