As Election Day (Tuesday, November 6th) draws near, it is important to keep in mind that California Law requires employers to give all employees who do not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote in a statewide election time off to vote (California Election Code section 14000).
Specifically, the laws provides:
- The employee may, without loss of pay, take up to two hours of time to vote if they don’t have time to vote outside of regular working hours;
- The time off for voting need only be provided at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever allows the most time for voting and the least disruption from work, unless otherwise mutually agreed; and
- The employee must give the employer at least two working days’ notice of the need to take time off for voting.
California law also requires California employers to post a notice to their employees advising them of provisions for taking paid leave for the purpose of voting in a clearly visible place at least 10 days before every statewide election. Many posters that contain all of the required state law postings includes this notice. Otherwise you have until Saturday October 27, 2018, to post the notice which can be downloaded and printed for free from the Secretary of State website.
In addition, employees who serve as election officials must be provided leave on Election Day to serve and may not be disciplined due to taking such leave. However, leave for election officials is not required to be paid.