Employers’ obligations regarding employee leave on voting day vary widely from state to state, so it’s best for them to know ahead of time what is required.
“[E]mployers should be mindful of state laws concerning voting leave for employees, including whether that leave is paid, what notice employees must provide to utilize the leave, any applicable exceptions, and the potential legal penalties for violations of these laws,” attorney Elizabeth Edmondson of law firm Maynard Nexsen wrote in a post earlier this year on the firm’s website.
Federal law does not mandate that employers allow workers time off to vote, so it’s up to each state’s discretion what to require. Some states require employers to provide time for workers to vote, but whether they must pay workers during that time is another matter. As of February, 30 states and Washington, DC, had rules granting employees some time off for voting.
“It is to ensure as much access as possible to allow people to vote,” said Debbie Birndorf-Zeiler, a California labor and employment attorney, referring to the Golden State’s law about paid leave for voting, as reported by HR Brew. “This is certainly not the case everywhere in California, but certainly in the metropolitan areas, that is an issue because even if you get off at six o’clock, getting to [your polling location] can be over an hour because the commutes are long.”
According to attorneys at Fisher Phillips, employers need to find out whether they are required to pay employees for time they spend at the polls, whether they can set a specific time during which employees can leave to vote, whether employees need to provide advance notice of their intentions to vote, and whether employers are responsible for notifying their employees about their right to take time off from work to vote.
Fisher Phillips offers state-by-state specifics in this online guide.
