These days, an increasing number of people in the U.S. are working on the holidays to support their families, instead of spending time with them.

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An Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll found approximately one-quarter of the American workforce will be required to work on at least one of the major upcoming holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Just under half said there's a chance they will be clocking in on one of those days, and more than half of that group said it won't be by choice.

Lewis Maltby, president of the National Workrights Institute in Princeton, said holiday work has become more of an issue in recent years, especially when it comes to Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Some retailers aren't closing their doors at all on Turkey Day.

"People just have to work more and more hours every year," he said. "There seems to be no end to it."

Maltby said most people who work on a holiday are doing it just so they don't lose their job. There are those, though, who enjoy a holiday shift because it means more money.

A partner at labor law firm Fisher & Phillips in Murray Hill said an employee is subject to discharge or discipline if they fail to show up on a day that they are scheduled to work, unless a religious reason is offered.

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