New York State Updates Election Law—More Time Off to Vote

New York State’s Election Law was recently updated to give employees additional time off to vote. Employers in New York must abide by the new requirements and also post the new Time Off to Vote notice, which has a revision date of 4/12/2019.

Our updated New York State Poster will soon be heading out to customers in The Empire State. In the meantime, we’ve provided some information on changes to the law and the notice.

New Time Off to Vote Requirements

For Employers and Employees

Registered voters in New York may now take up to 3 hours off to vote, without loss of pay, regardless of their work schedules. This time off may be taken at the beginning or end of a worker’s shift, as determined by an employer unless otherwise mutually agreed upon.

Employees must now notify their employer about taking time off to vote at least 2 days before Election Day. Previously, employees had at least 10 days before the election to notify their employer.

Prior to the update to the Election Law, New York employers had to provide their employees with 2 hours of paid time off to vote. Plus, employees were only entitled to take this time off if they didn’t have 4 consecutive hours in which to vote, either between the opening of the polls and the start of their work shift or the end of their work shift and the closing of the polls. This made it hard for certain employees to get paid time off.

The new Time Off to Vote notice states that at least 10 days before every election, employers are required to post the notice prominently in their places of business where it may be seen by all employees. The notice must remain posted in the workplace until the polls close on Election Day. Of course, our customers won’t have to worry about this requirement if they display the updated New York State poster in their workplaces.

Compliance Made Easy!

If you have not already done so, we encourage you to order our 1-Year Compliance Plan, so that you will automatically receive the updated New York State poster as soon as it is available. And because we provide free poster updates for mandatory changes, no matter how many occur during the 12-month period, you can always count on Poster Compliance Center to keep your business in compliance!