The New York State Election Law provides that employees who are registered voters that do not have sufficient time to vote, outside of working hours, can take up to two (2) hours of paid time off from work to vote.

However, if an employee has four (4) consecutive hours either before or after work, when the employee can vote, then the employee is not entitled to paid time off to vote. The law provides that four (4) consecutive hours when the polls are open and employee can vote (without interfering with their job) is considered sufficient time for the employee to vote.

If the employee has less than four (4) hours before or after work to vote, then the employee can take time off, at the beginning or the end of their shift, to allow them sufficient time to vote. The employer and employee can also mutually agree for the employee to take time off during the work-day to allow the employee to vote.

Employees are to be paid for the up to two (2) hours of time they may take to vote.

In order to comply with this law, employees are required to provide notice to their employer of the need to take voting leave “not more than ten nor less than two working days before the day of the election”.

Employers cannot penalize an employee for requesting or taking voting leave.

For more information regarding your rights in the workplace contact Sheree Donath at (516) 804-0274 or Sheree@DonathLaw.com