It's Labor Day weekend. Here's the curious truth about the holiday's origins

The weekend leading up to summer's last holiday is here. On Monday, many companies will observe Labor Day by giving employees a day off. The holiday also signals the fashion rule to stop wearing white until spring. But the long weekend is about more than style, sleeping in and barbecues. Did you know that Labor Day has contentious beginnings? In fact, two men with almost the same name fight for credit.

Before you fire up the grill, enjoy summer's final fanfare and maybe even do some shopping for sales this weekend, we'll walk you through the fight over who is the holiday's founder and the 19th-century fashion rule. And if you want to look ahead, we have the dates to mark your calendars for Labor Day through 2026. 

Labor Day has two different possible origin stories, and it doesn't help that the people who get credit have very similar names. And though they are indeed unrelated, their passion for improving the working conditions of Americans was much the same.