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April 2019

More Paid Time Off From Work for New York Voters

As part of New York State’s recently enacted budget for fiscal year 2020, the state’s election law has been revised to permit employees with up to three hours of paid time off to vote at any election.

Previously, under Election Law § 3-110, employees who did not have sufficient time to vote outside of their working hours were permitted up to two hours of paid time off. Employees were deemed not to have sufficient time to vote if they had less than four consecutive hours between the opening of the polls and the beginning of their workday, or between the end of their workday and the closing of the polls.

Now, employees are entitled to up to three hours of paid time off to vote regardless of their work schedules. As under the prior version of the law, employers may require such time off to take place at the beginning or end of the employee’s working shift. The law continues to require employees to request time off to vote at least two days before Election Day, although the new version eliminates the timing restriction that the request be made not more than ten days before the election.

Employers should modify their voting leave policies accordingly, and be prepared to comply with the revised law for elections going forward.