What Memphis employers recognize Juneteenth as a paid holiday?
In the intensified racial reckoning following the murder of George Floyd last May, many large American companies declared Juneteenth, the commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, a paid holiday. Locally, multiple celebrations are planned for the holiday weekend, including a music festival at Health Sciences Park, which until last week held the bones of Confederate general, slave trader and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest. But the number of Memphis employers offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday remains small, with many of them being national companies not based in Memphis that offer the holiday to employees across the country. Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission both voted in 2020 to make the day a city and county holiday, respectively. Juneteenth is not a holiday for the University of Memphis, a spokesperson said. FOR SUBSCRIBERS:Nathan Bedford Forrest's remains have been dug up twice, but for very different reasons  In the private sector, many of Memphis' largest employers are not offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday. One notable exception is Nike, which employs thousands in Memphis. The sportswear giant established Juneteenth as a company holiday last year for employees in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. "Nike aspires to be a leader in building diverse and inclusive communities  from embedding diversity, equity and inclusion education in every employees journey to leveraging our platform to inspire positive change in our communities," Nike said in a statement. "Across our Nike, Converse, and Jordan family, we will close our corporate, retail, manufacturing and distribution operations in observance of Juneteenth to provide educational opportunities that honor Black history and culture." Nike is part of a growing number of companies offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday. A survey from the International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans found that 8% of organizations offer it as a paid holiday, with the majority of those organizations (96%) offering it for the first time in 2020. Last year ignited a national trend where individual employers are expanding their commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives, and I think thats one way to recognize that in their diversity and inclusion programs, said Theresa Adams, senior advisor at the Society for Human Resource Management, of more companies offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday. FROM TED EVANOFF:New head of Baker Donelson law firm reflects on role in removing Bedford Forrest statue  Memphis hospitals mark holiday in other ways  Some of the largest local employers, Memphis hospitals, are not offering it as a holiday for administrative or other personnel not required to keep the hospitals' patient care operations running. Representatives of Regional One Health and the Baptist and Methodist systems all said it was not a paid holiday. Baptist is one of the sponsors of the Juneteenth celebration at Health Sciences Park, a spokesperson said. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital said it was marking the holiday by providing educational opportunities and community events for employees. Based on recommendations from the Black Employee and Allies Resource Group, we are encouraging employees to join educational webinars sponsored by the National Civil Rights Museum and the American Bar Association," the hospital said in a statement. "As we continue to examine how St. Jude can recognize diversity on our campus and in our community, we are working with our Diversity and Inclusion Office and our employees to consider additional ways to observe this important holiday.  Some Memphis companies take floating holiday approach  Memphis-based First Horizon, the parent company of First Horizon Bank, provides its associates four hours of time off for Juneteenth. The time off is for reflection, education, and/or service, the company said in a statement. Weve made notable changes over the past year to ensure that our organization  our First Horizon family  is well-positioned to move from awareness to action regarding the demonstration of our values of diversity, equity and inclusion, First Horizon said. Among other large, public Memphis companies  FedEx, International Paper and Terminix  none said Juneteenth is a paid, company-wide holiday in responses to The Commercial Appeal. International Paper said in a statement it provides employees with paid time off allowances, which include floating holidays that may be used at an employees discretion. These days allow observance of religious and/or ethnic holidays or can be used for other personal reasons, International Paper said. Similarly, FedEx said in a statement it offers floating holidays and personal days aimed specifically to provide employees the opportunity to take time off to celebrate holidays beyond the ones we have traditionally offered.  Adams said companies offering paid floating holidays for employees to celebrate whatever holidays theyd like is a common practice. Terminix said Juneteenth is not a paid holiday for the company, but the company's African American Business Resource Group is holding a virtual educational event Friday in celebration of Juneteenth, which is open to all employees. It's not clear if AutoZone offers it as a paid holiday, as the company did not provide responses to requests for comment. Business organizations in Memphis said they did not have senses from their membership about how many small and medium businesses locally were observing the holiday. The Society of Human Resource Managers Memphis chapter did not respond to a request for comment about how many Memphis companies were offering the day as a paid holiday. NATIONAL NEWS:Senate passes bill to make Juneteenth a federal holiday  Juneteenth paid holiday for some national employers  Nationally, some of the major employers that offered Juneteenth as a holiday ranged from retailers with local presences like Target and JCPenney, tech companies like Twitter and Tumblr, financial services companies like Square and Mastercard and media companies including the New York Times and the Washington Post. Gannett, the parent company of The Commercial Appeal, made Juneteenth a company-wide paid holiday this year. Best Buy will also start offering Juneteenth as a paid holiday this year. Last year, the company offered it as a paid volunteer day. Lyft in 2020 committed to making it a company holiday for the ride-sharing platform moving forward. Other companies looked for ways to mark the holiday last year without giving employees time off. Netflix and Spotify curated collections of TV shows, films and music featuring or produced by Black artists. Several banks and financial services companies closed offices early. Automakers encouraged workers to participate in a moment of silence. Amazon encouraged employees to cancel nonessential meetings. It wasnt clear which companies would carry on these practices this year and into the future. I think companies are doing other things as well, like educating their employees on the meaning of it, having their employee resource groups hosting events around it and having councils or forums for discussions, Adams said. So, I think that its not just providing a paid holiday. That holiday is really just a part of the movement that is going on.  Corinne Kennedy covers economic development, soccer and COVID-19's impact on hospitals for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.Kennedy@CommercialAppeal.com or at 901-297-3245. Max Garland covers FedEx, logistics and health care for The Commercial Appeal. Reach him at max.garland@commercialappeal.com or 901-529-2651 and on Twitter @MaxGarlandTypes.