NEW YORK—As the presidential election draws near, employers may be wondering how to handle requests for time off to vote on Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. While there is no federal law that entitles workers to time off, many states offer voting leave to employees in certain circumstances.

Over half of the states require employers to provide voting leave, and most of those states require the leave be paid. In many states, the employer may ask for advance notice of the need to take time off and may require that the leave be taken at a specific time during the workday.

At a minimum, employers should ensure they are following any applicable state rules. Even in states where there is no specific voting leave law, it is a good practice to allow employees up to two hours of paid time off to vote if there is insufficient time for the employee to vote outside of working hours.

Although state laws vary, the general theme across the U.S. with respect to voting laws is that employees will be given time off to vote if there is insufficient time between the time the polls open and close within the state, and the time employees start and finish work.

Wyoming law, for example, entitles employees to one hour of paid voting leave if the employee has less than three consecutive nonworking hours to vote.

Georgia's law states that employers must provide two hours of leave to vote in "any municipal, county, state, or federal political party primary or election for which such employee is qualified and registered to vote." Employees in Georgia must provide reasonable notice to their employers and must not otherwise have two hours outside of work to attend the polls.

In New York, employees who do not have four non-working hours, either at the opening or the closing of the polls, are eligible to take up to two paid hours off to vote.

Some state laws describe employee voting leave rights in specific detail.

The Nevada law defines "sufficient time to vote" based on the distance between the voter's place of employment and the designated polling place. Depending on the distance, employees get between one and three hours of paid leave if it would be difficult to get to the polls during nonworking hours.

In Massachusetts, manufacturing, mechanical and mercantile employees must be allowed to vote during the first two hours that the polls are open, if they provide advance notice to their employer.

Some state laws are less detailed. Arkansas law dictates that employers must "schedule the work hours of employees on election days so that each employee will have an opportunity to exercise the right of franchise."

Employees in Ohio must simply be given a "reasonable amount of time" to vote on Election Day.

North Dakota law "encourages" employers to establish voting leave policies without mandating any specific rules.

In addition to Washington, D.C., the following states do not have any voting leave laws on the books: Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.

However, even in those states, employers should check if there are any local voting leave ordinances in their cities.

It is important to keep in mind that most state laws require employees to provide the employer with notice that they will be taking time off to vote on the day of the election. In Tennessee, for example, employees must provide notice prior to noon on the day before the election. And West Virginia is the only state with a voting leave law that requires written notice.

Employers should note that some states require notices to be posted conspicuously in the workplace before Election Day to inform employees of their rights. Such notices need to be posted in California and New York at least 10-working days prior to an election.

Finally, multistate employers can either maintain one policy that complies with all of the states' laws where they have offices, or have a general policy in addition to a "local practices section" of the employee handbook that notes the voting rights in the applicable state.

Hedley Lawson, Contributing Editor
Managing Partner
Aligned Growth Partners, LLC
(707) 217-0979
hlawson@alignedgrowth.com
www.alignedgrowth.com