It’s probably posted on the bulletin board in your employee lounge, along with all the other employment notices California employers are required by law to post. But, it’s likely lost in that blizzard of information, and it’s one aspect of employee rights few of us pay any attention to because it is seldom relevant. With the national election just a month away, here is a reminder that every employer is required to provide two hours of paid leave to allow employees to vote, subject to certain conditions. And, this requirement applies to all public agencies and the employees thereof, as well as to employers and employees in private industry.

California Elections Code § 14000* provides that if an employee-voter does not have sufficient time outside of working hours to vote at a statewide election, the voter may, without loss of pay, take off enough working time that, when added to the voting time available outside of working hours, will enable the voter to vote. In California the polls are open for 13 hours, between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.

The law further provides that no more than two hours of the time taken off for voting shall be without loss of pay, and the time off for voting shall be only at the beginning or end of the regular working shift, whichever allows the most free time for voting and the least time off from the regular working shift, unless otherwise mutually agreed.

What this means in practical terms is that most employees who work a normal 8 hour work day, meaning the employee is at work 8 1/2 to 9 hours, depending on the length of the lunch break, will not qualify unless the employee has a horrendous commute. However, employees on flex schedules that put the employee at work for 10 to 12 hours, might well qualify for some paid time off to vote. Fortunately, the law does not require the employer to guess who will need this benefit and who will not and how much time will be paid time off.

The law provides that if the employee on the third working day prior to the day of the election (election day is Tuesday, November 8, so the third working day before that is Thursday, November 3) knows or has reason to believe that time off will be necessary to be able to vote on election day, the employee shall give the employer at least two working days’ notice (by Friday, November 4) that time off for voting is desired. It will then fall to the employer and employee to determine what will be enough time to permit voting (2 hours is merely the maximum, not the required amount of time) and whether this paid time off will be at the beginning or end of the work shift.

So, every employer needs to make sure notice is provided as required by law, no later than October 28, and be prepared to work out legally sufficient paid time off with employees entitled to this “benefit.”

* Elections Code § 14001 provides: “Not less than 10 days before every statewide election, every employer shall keep posted conspicuously at the place of work, if practicable, or elsewhere where it can be seen as employees come or go to their place of work, a notice setting forth the provisions of Section 14000.”

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