Friday, October 17, 2008

Voting Rights of a California Employee

Most state laws allow individuals to exercise their right and duty to vote during elections. Under California Election Code section 14000, for instance, workers are given at least 2 hours to leave work and vote without loss of pay.

This state law provision is discussed in the article “California Employees Must Receive Time Off to Vote”, posted on October 14, 2008. The article also mentioned that under the guidelines, employees must be given notice 10 days before the election.

In California, as in many other states, an employer has to provide an employee a time of to vote; otherwise, he will be liable for denying workers this right.

Under the law, a worker or employee who has no sufficient time outside of working hours to vote in an election may take off enough working time, without loss of pay, to allow him to vote.

However, no more than two hours of the time taken off for voting shall be allowed. According to the law, 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.

If an employee realizes that time off will be necessary to be able to vote, he must give his employer at least two working day’s notice regarding his intention to take time off from work to vote.

Employment and labor laws support suffrage or the individual’s right to vote hence workers are given the chance to exercise this right and privilege. Workers who are denied the time to vote can seek the assistance of an employment lawyer to report the violation.