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“State-by-State Guide to Vot­ing Leave Laws 10/26/2010

“(Editor’s note: This arti­cle has been unlocked until Nov. 4, 2010. For a free 30-day trial to our online HR Spe­cial­ist Pre­mium Plus ser­vice, click here.)

When polls open nation­wide next Tues­day for the 2010 mid-term elec­tions, chances are, some of your employ­ees will want to take part of the day off to cast their bal­lots. Must you let them?

No fed­eral law requires employ­ers to grant leave for the pur­pose of vot­ing. How­ever, most states have laws that do.
Many specif­i­cally address sit­u­a­tions in which an employee’s work hours do not per­mit suf­fi­cient time to vote dur­ing the hours polls are open.

See below for a full state-by-state run­down of vot­ing leave laws. Remem­ber that flex­i­bil­ity can be the key when it comes to encour­ag­ing employ­ees to vote. While your state law may not man­date paid time off, there’s noth­ing that pro­hibits you from imple­ment­ing a vot­ing pol­icy that offers your employ­ees greater flex­i­bil­ity or priv­i­leges than what the law requires.

What do most state vot­ing laws require? In many states, the fol­low­ing rules gen­er­ally apply:

• If polls are open two or three hours before or after employ­ees’ nor­mal work hours, the employer is not oblig­ated to pro­vide time off to vote.
• Employ­ers may require that employ­ees pro­vide writ­ten requests for time off to vote.
• Employ­ers may des­ig­nate when time off will be per­mit­ted for employ­ees to vote.
• Employ­ers may not include lunch peri­ods as part of the vot­ing time off permitted.
• Employ­ees may be required to pro­vide proof they voted to receive paid leave.
• Employ­ees may not be dis­ci­plined or retal­i­ated against for tak­ing time off to vote.

State Vot­ing Leave Requirements

Alabama-§ 17–1-5-Employees can have up to one hour if they give their employer rea­son­able notice; employer may des­ig­nate the time when employee can leave to vote; if the employee’s shift starts two hours after the polls open or ends one hour before the polls close, the employer does not have to give leave.

Alaska-§ 15.56.100-Employer must give paid time unless the employee has two con­sec­u­tive hours before or after work to vote; no notice is required.

Ari­zona-§ 16–402-Employer must give paid time unless the employee has three con­sec­u­tive hours before or after work to vote; employee must give one-day notice; employer can choose when employee leaves to vote.

Arkansas-§ 7–1-102-Employer should arrange employee’s work sched­ule so employee has time to vote.

Cal­i­for­nia–Elec­tion Code § 14000–14003-Employer must allow time unless employee has two hours before or after shift to vote; employee must give two work­ing days’ notice.

Col­orado-§1–13-719-Employer must give up to two paid hours to vote if the employee does not have three con­sec­u­tive hours to vote. Connecticut-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Delaware–15 Del. Code § 4709-If the employee has vaca­tion time and the employer is not in crit­i­cal need of the employee, the employer shall not deprive the employee of the time off.

Dis­trict of Colum­bia-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Florida-§ 104.081-Employer can­not fire an employee for vot­ing; oth­er­wise, no law requir­ing time off.
Georgia-§ 21–2-404-Employees can take up to two hours’ paid leave; employer can decide when employee can leave to vote.

Hawaii-§ 11–95-Employees can have up to two paid hours, unless the employee has two con­sec­u­tive hours to vote out­side work hours; employee must show proof to be paid. Idaho-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Illi­nois–10 I.L.C.S. § 5/17–15-Employees can have up to two hours’ unpaid leave; employ­ees must give one-day notice; employer can decide when employee may leave to vote.

Indi­ana-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Iowa-§49.109-Employee may have paid leave, unless employee has three con­sec­u­tive hours to vote out­side work; employee must give writ­ten notice; employer can des­ig­nate time employee can leave to vote.

Kansas-§ 25–418-Employee can have up to two hours’ paid leave, unless the employee has two con­sec­u­tive hours to vote out­side work hours; employer may choose the time employee may leave to vote.

Ken­tucky-§ 118.035-Employee may have a “rea­son­able time” up to four hours unpaid to vote; employee must give one-day notice; employer may des­ig­nate when employee may take leave to vote; employer may pun­ish employee who takes leave but does not vote.

Louisiana-§ 23:961–No law requir­ing employee time off to vote. An employer with more than
20 employ­ees can­not for­bid their par­tic­i­pa­tion in politics.

Maine-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Mary­land–3 § 10–315-Employee may have two hours’ paid leave; employee must pro­vide proof he or she voted to receive pay for time.

Mass­a­chu­setts–Gen. Laws ch. 149 § 178-Employees in man­u­fac­tur­ing, mechan­i­cal or mer­can­tile jobs may apply for leave in the first two hours polls are open.

Michi­gan-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Min­nesota-§ 204C.04-Employee may have paid time off to vote in the morning.

Mis­sis­sippi- No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Mis­souri-§ 115.639-Employees may have up to three paid hours to vote, unless the employee has three con­sec­u­tive hours out­side work to vote; the employee must vote to be paid for time; employer can des­ig­nate the time employee may leave to vote.

Mon­tana-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Nebraska-§ 32–922-Employee may have two paid hours, unless employee has two con­sec­u­tive hours out­side of work to vote; employee must give notice; employer may des­ig­nate when employee may leave to vote.

Nevada-§ 293.463-Employee may take paid leave to vote if it is not prac­ti­cal to vote before or after work; employee must give notice; if the employee lives less than two miles from the polling place, the employee may have one hour; if the employee lives between two and 10 miles from the polling place, he or she may have two hours; if the employee lives more than 10 miles from the polling place, he or she may have three hours.

New Hamp­shire-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

New Jer­sey-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

New Mex­ico-§ 1–12-42-Employee may have up to two hours, unless shift begins more than two hours after polls open or ends more than three hours before polls close.

New York–N.Y. Elec. Law § 3–110-If employee does not have suf­fi­cient time to vote, he or she may take up to two paid hours, unless he or she has four con­sec­u­tive non-work hours prior to or after shift when polls are open; employee must give notice of at least two days, but not more than 10 days, before the elec­tion; employ­ers must post notice of these pro­vi­sions not less than 10 work­ing days before the election.

North Car­olina-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

North Dakota–N.D. Cent. Code § 16.1–1-02.1-Encourages employ­ers to allow employ­ees time off to vote if reg­u­larly sched­uled to work while polls are open.

Ohio-§ 3599.06-Employee allowed “rea­son­able amount of time” to vote.

Okla­homa–title 26 § 7–101-Employee may have up to two hours, or more if employee lives far away from polling place, unless employee’s shift starts more than three hours after polls open or ends more than three hours before polls close; employee must give one-day notice; employer may des­ig­nate time employee may leave to vote.

Ore­gon-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Penn­syl­va­nia-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Rhode Island-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

South Car­olina–No law requir­ing employee time off to vote. South Dakota-§ 12–3-5-Employee may take up to two paid hours, unless employee has two con­sec­u­tive non-working hours; employer may des­ig­nate when employee leaves to vote.

Ten­nessee-§ 2–1-106-Employee is allowed a rea­son­able time up to three hours, unless shift starts three hours after the polls open or shift ends three hours before polls close; notice must be given by 12 p.m. the day prior to the election.

Texas-§ 276.004-Employer may not refuse to allow employee time to vote, although no time limit is spec­i­fied, unless employee has two con­sec­u­tive hours of non-work time while polls are open.

Utah-§ 20A-3–103-Employee may take up to two hours at the begin­ning or end of his or her shift, unless employee has three con­sec­u­tive non-work hours; employee must give notice; employer can decide when time taken to vote.

Ver­mont-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote.

Vir­ginia-No law requir­ing employee time off to vote. § 24.2–118.1-Employers may not fire or charge sick or vaca­tion leave for employ­ees who serve as elec­tion offi­cers, pro­vided the employ­ees gave rea­son­able notice.

Wash­ing­ton-§ 49.28.120-Employer must arrange employee’s sched­ule to allow suf­fi­cient time to vote, unless employee has two con­sec­u­tive non-work hours while polls are open.

West Vir­ginia-§ 3–1-42-Employee may have up to three paid hours to vote, unless employee has three con­sec­u­tive non-work hours while polls are open; leave is paid only if employee votes; employee must give three days’ notice. If the employee works in essen­tial gov­ern­ment, health, hos­pi­tal, trans­porta­tion, com­mu­ni­ca­tion ser­vices, or is in an indus­try requir­ing con­tin­u­ous oper­a­tions, the employer may spec­ify the time off for an employee to vote.

Wis­con­sin-§ 6.76-Employee may have up to three unpaid hours; employee must give notice; employer may des­ig­nate when employee may take leave. Wyoming-§ 22–2-111-Employee may have one-hour paid leave, unless employee has three con­sec­u­tive non-work hours while polls are open; leave is paid only if employee votes.”

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