Dive Brief:
- During a presidential voting year, handling voting requests from employees becomes even more important, meaning employers need to be prepared.
- There is no federal law giving employees time off to vote, SHRM reported, meaning employers who work in multiple states will have to adapt to a myriad of state rules on the matter.
- For one, there are states that offer specific voting leave rules for employees, SHRM noted. "Over half of the states require employers to provide voting leave, and most of those states require the leave be paid," Bryan Stillwagon, an attorney with Sherman & Howard in Atlanta, told SHRM.
Dive Insight:
Robert Nobile of Seyfarth Shaw's New York City office told SHRM that the rule of thumb is to follow the state rules. Giving employees up to two hours of paid time off to vote if they can't reasonably get to their polling places during off-hours is standard practice. "Encouraging and not discouraging employees should be the general rule," Nobile told SHRM.
SHRM points out that some state laws offer specific details of voting leave. For example, in Massachusetts, manufacturing, mechanical and mercantile employees who offer notice that they intend on voting get the first two hours after the polls open.
By encouraging and helping workers to vote, employers are also boosting engagement by showing they care and are supportive of employees expressing their rights.