It is election season, and that means employees might need to take time off work to vote. Nikki Mahmoudi and Tomiwa Aina give a quick review of California’s voting leave law as it applies to businesses in this episode of California Employment News.

Watch this episode on the Weintraub YouTube channel.

Tomiwa:

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us today for this installment of the California Employment News, an informative video and podcast resource offered by the Labor and Employment Group at Weintraub, Tobin. My name is Tomiwa Aina, an associate in the Firm’s Labor and Employment Group, and today I am joined with my colleague, Nikki Mahmoudi. Now, as election season has started, we thought it would be a good idea to discuss California’s voting leave law as it applies to your businesses. So federal law does not require employers to provide any voting leave to its employees. However, California employees eligible to vote in any statewide or national election may request leave to vote if they do not already have enough time outside of their working hours to do so. Nikki, do you think you can tell us a little bit about whether voting leave in California is paid or unpaid and the notice that employers must give to their employees?

Nikki:

Of course. In California, employees are allowed to take as much time as needed to vote. Employees are allowed to take up to 2 hours of voting leave as paid leave. Any remaining leave time will be unpaid. An employee may take voting leave at either the beginning or the end of their regular work shift, whichever will give the employee the most time to vote and the least amount of time away from work. Also, at least 10 days before every statewide election, implementation, employers must conspicuously post a notice in their workplace or where it can be seen by employees, setting forth California’s voting leave provisions in the California Election Code.

Tomiwa:

Thank you very much, Nikki. Now, a lot of individuals vote before election day in California. However, if by the third working day before election day, an employee knows or believes that they will need time off to vote on election day, then the employee must notify the employer for at least two working days in advance that they will need time off to vote on election day. But some good news for employers, California law does not require employers to provide voting leave for elections other than statewide elections, such as municipal or county elections. So employers will not have to provide vote and leave for local elections.

Nikki:

Thanks, Tomiwa. Well, that’s it for now. You can continue to find our video series and podcast through the LElawblog.com or on the Weintraub Tobin YouTube channel. Thank you everyone for joining us, and we look forward to reconnecting with you on our next episode.