Voting Leave is a Right of Your Employee
Elections are upon us. Your employees will either have voted already or request leave to vote during election day. Employees in California who are eligible to cast a ballot in a statewide election or a national election can request leave from their employer if they do not have the time to vote outside of their working hours. California employees can take as much time to vote as they need, but employers only have to pay for up to 2 hours of voting leave. The remaining leave time is unpaid. In California, an employee may take voting leave at either the beginning or the end of their regular work shift, whichever will give the employee the most time to vote and the least amount of time away from work.
California Elections Code section 14001 requires employers to post a notice to employees advising them of provisions for taking paid leave for the purpose of voting in statewide elections. This sample notice can be found online. California’s voting leave law is remarkably different from Federal law in that federal law does not require employers to provide voting leave to their employees.
For more information on California’s voting leave law, please take a look visit Weintraub Tobin’s California Employment News episode – A Refresher on Voting Leave Laws for CA Employers.
