With less than a week before the 2016 presidential election, many employers may be wondering whether they are obligated to provide time off to vote.
Employers should beware. There is no federal law requiring employers to provide time off to employees to vote and, while many states have laws requiring “voting leave,” Florida is not one of them. However, local ordinances in some Florida cities and counties may require employers provide time off to employees to vote. Additionally, most employers will have at least one employee who asks for time off (or an adjusted schedule) for Nov. 8, 2016.
Whether or not you are legally required to provide time off to your employees to vote, you should be prepared to address employee requests for time off or modified work schedules.
The first thing all employers should do is check their local ordinances to see if there is a requirement to provide time off to employees to vote.
Next, employers should check their employee handbook to see if it addresses voting leave. If you do not already have a policy or procedure in place for requesting voting leave, you should decide whether you want to provide time off to vote, then consistently apply that decision for all employees.
Best practice is to ensure that employees have two consecutive, nonworking hours available to vote. For Florida voters, the polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and, according to the Florida Division of Elections, any voter in line at 7 p.m. will be given the opportunity to cast a ballot. Many employees working an 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. schedule will likely have sufficient time available to vote. However, for employees who work a longer shift, employers may consider allowing the employee to adjust his or her schedule.
You have several options available to accommodate employee requests for time off to vote:
- Suggest employees use any available paid time off to accommodate the time away from work.
- Allow employees to work a modified schedule for voting day. For example, employees who request to come in an hour late may work an hour later in the day to accomplish their work, or vice versa.
- Allow employees to take unpaid time off to vote.
- Offer to pay employees for the time off necessary to vote (although you may have no obligation to do so).
If you decide to offer either unpaid or paid leave, you should consider capping the amount of time employees use to avoid abuse of this voluntary leave benefit. Additionally, if you expect a large number of employees to request time off or a modified working schedule, you should consider staggering the time away from the office to accommodate the company’s business needs.
Should you need any assistance in reviewing local ordinances to determine your company's obligations or reviewing your company’s policies on leave, including voting leave, please contact any member Gunster's labor and employment law team.
