No, no, not who to vote for. Rather, employers should brush up on laws and regulations that entitle employees to time off to vote or to serve as an election official. What time off do you need to give employees? And is it paid or unpaid? What about employees’ other political activities, beyond voting?

The following sheds some light on issues employers should keep in mind as we approach the November 8 mid-term elections. Remember, however, there are many variations and nuances to each jurisdiction’s laws. Employers should be sure to consult the applicable laws in every state and locality where their employees vote to ensure compliance with state and local requirements.

• States Requiring Voting Leave. Although there are no federal laws regarding voting time leave, a majority of states (31)¹ have enacted laws giving employees the right to take time off from work to vote, even where absentee or mail-in ballots are available. Note that there have been some changes in this list since the 2020 federal election. In particular, employers may have missed Connecticut’s voter leave law, which was part of a special session budget omnibus bill enacted in June 2021. Many of these laws, which generally provide two to four hours of mandated leave time, kick in only if an employee is unable to vote outside of their work time due to conflicts between polling hours and their work schedule. When a leave requirement is triggered, states often allow employers to specify the time that employees...

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