Election Day: Time Off to Vote Requirements

Election Day is less than a week away and employees may have begun already requesting time off to go to the polls. The law varies state-by-state for when employers must honor these requests and grant employees voting leave. It is important to know the laws in your state, as certain states can subject the employer to civil or even criminal liability for failing to comply.

Please click here to view a summary of employers’ obligations to provide employees with time off to vote in the following eight states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, New York, and Texas. Each of these states has a law that governs which employees must be given time off, whether advance notice is required, and whether this time must be paid. This list is non-exhaustive and focuses on states where our firm has offices.

Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Washington DC do not have specific laws requiring employers to give employees time off to vote.

For information about states not covered in the chart as well as any other questions about voting requirements, please contact an attorney in the Labor and Employment practice group or your regular Bryan Cave LLP contact.