Mellon Bank Corp., the Pittsburgh-based banking giant, is giving 16,000 employees an extra day off to thank them for a year of record profits.

Mellon earned $280 million last year and its stock price soared 47 percent.

"There is still a lot to be done and we need to keep our eye on the ball, but this is one tangible way for management and the board of directors to say 'thank you' for a superb effort," Chairman Frank V. Cahouet said.

Last year, merit pay increases were deferred for hourly and salaried workers and bonuses and vacations for top officers were slashed. The cutbacks followed a 1990 fourth-quarter loss of $99 million.

In the past 10 years, Mellon has laid off more than 4,000 people.