Is it normal/legal/okay for an employer to not pay for a holiday or force vacation days when the office is closed?

Vacation varies by state if you are in the USA. I know, because I worked at a multi-national corporation, and we had different rules for different states. On Christmas shutdown, in some states, employees could be forced to burn their vacation days, or if they had none, to borrow vacation against the future. In California, this was not allowed - employees had to be offered the chance to take the days unpaid (which I always did).

With any employer I had while working in an office, then any holiday and closed, then (everyone) in the office is paid for that holiday. From what I remember (retired) that say a holiday falls on Tuesday like Christmas and New Years Day, then many will have you off on Monday also. Or if it falls on a Thursday, then many will give you off paid on both Thursday and Friday. If a Monday, only off, just like if it is on a Wednesday. Now this was based that the office open Monday to Friday and off on the weekends.

Now paid vacation is "usually" earned after a period of time. Like may get 2 weeks the 1st year, but cant take any till 6 months.

But there is NO law that states an employer must pay for holidays, but is a choice for them to do so, and many (good) employers do this, thus in hopes of hiring good employees or retaining them and not leaving the company.

Now when you say salary I am guessing you might work a office job, but most offices are not closed for an entire week, so you could be working in a factory, which maybe doing this and is common to shut down.

Now where I feel sorry for are retail employees stuck working on holidays and most do NOT get holiday pay at all but their regular hourly rate. I remember having 4 days off for Thanksgiving each year and go into a grocery store seeing the same employees working those 4 days or at least 3 of them.

Edit: Obviously the other employee was smart to ask about the companies holiday policy, thus they were smart enough to negotiate working there on the provision that they did not have to meet the 90 day rule and is common. I have worked new jobs and had vacations planned, thus the company agreed to pay me vacation time, even though I did (not) earn them yet, since they wanted to hire me.

Paying you in accordance with the contract you negotiated is normal, legal and okay.

It is pretty normal for an employer not to offer paid time off to newly hired employees. It is 100% legal as paid vacation and paid holidays are not required by law. The law only requires that you are paid the time you work.

Normal? No.

Legal? Probably - depending on your state's labor laws.

yes -- it's perfectly legal. you just didn't know, so you didn't bargain for it. Live and learn.

Most Departments of Labor have laws that say you Must be paid for days you work. If the company is closed for any time, then you don't.

For reference, I'm in Florida and we're salaried.

It sounds like you need a labor union to counteract the abuses of a management that has all the control.

There is no legal requirement that employers give paid holidays. Many do but, as in this case, have a waiting period. 90 days is a normal probationary period. A company that gives paid vacation days may also designate specific days that are paid vacation for all employees, and this company is choosing to do that between Christmas and New Year's.