With record voter turnout expected today, here’s a timely question from a Blawg visitor:

Is there a federal law that gives employees the right to vote during the work day?  Is it paid?  Can they choose when to go or can the employer specify the time period?  What do most employers do?

Here’s the answer . . .

While there’s no federal law, most states have specific “right to vote” statutes.  Here’s a quick list of the states with such statutes, along with a summary of what they provide. 

This is intended only as a general guide.  As always, keep our official disclaimer in mind and check with your own HR and legal resources to get the nuances of each statute and before changing or setting your policies.

ALABAMA:  1 hour unpaid, employer may designate hours
ALASKA:  2 hours paid (with certain restrictions)
ARIZONA:  3 hours paid (with certain restrictions), employer may designate
ARKANSAS:  Unspecified time unpaid
CALIFORNIA:  2 hours paid, shift start/end of shift unless otherwise agreed
COLORADO:  2 hours paid, employer may designate and request shift start/end
GEORGIA:  2 hours unpaid, employer may designate
HAWAII:  2 hours paid
ILLINOIS:  2 hours unpaid, employer may designate
IOWA:  3 hours paid, employer may designate
KANSAS:  2 hours paid, employer may designate
KENTUCKY:  At least 4 hours unpaid, employer may designate
MARYLAND:  2 hours paid
MASSACHUSETTS:  1st 2 hours polls open unpaid (applies only to certain industries)
MINNESOTA:  Morning of election paid
MISSOURI:  3 hours paid, employer may designate
NEBRASKA:  2 hours paid, employer may designate
NEVADA:  3 hours paid, employer may designate
NEW MEXICO:  2 hours paid, employer may designate
NEW YORK:  2 hours paid, employer may designate
OHIO:  Unspecified time unpaid
OKLAHOMA:  2 hours paid, employer may designate
PUERTO RICO:  Unspecified time unpaid
SOUTH DAKOTA:  2 hours paid, employer may designate
TENNESSEE:  3 hours paid, employer may designate
TEXAS:  Unspecified time paid
UTAH:  2 hours paid, employer may designate (with certain exceptions)
WASHINGTON:  2 hours paid (with certain restrictions), employer may designate
WEST VIRGINIA:  3 hours paid (with certain exceptions)
WISCONSIN:  3 hours unpaid, employer may designate
WYOMING:  1 hour paid, employer may designate

As for what most employers are doing, check out this article in today’s USA Today for some interesting ideas.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 7:57 am and is filed under Voting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.