Voting Paid Time Off (S.6278-A/A.7836) | 2019

June 3rd, 2019

AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to required voting time for an employee without sufficient time to vote outside of working hours

MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT

Unshackle Upstate, a non-partisan, pro-taxpayer, pro-economic growth, education and advocacy coalition made up of business and trade organizations from all parts of Upstate New York, supports this legislation.

This bill amends a policy in the recently enacted state budget that allows employees three hours of paid time off for purposes of voting regardless of whether they have sufficient time before or after a shift to vote. This proposal reinstates language that was unnecessarily removed stating that an employee with four consecutive hours before or after a shift shall be deemed to have sufficient time outside working hours to vote.

The expansion of paid time off for voting is an unnecessary and significant new burden on employers. Paired with this new policy were additional changes meant to increase access to voting for New Yorkers, including expanded election day voting hours and allowing voters ten days to vote before an election. These expansions, coupled with the previous requirements for voting time off, would provide employees more than sufficient time to vote.

This new policy is a costly new mandate on New York employers. Requiring paid time off for general and primary elections, town and village, and special elections, and others amounts to several days a year where employers must provide additional paid time off.  This policy includes no requirement employees demonstrate a shift impedes their ability to vote.

In addition to the cost of this new mandate, the policy change opens employers, particularly small businesses, to additional risk if they fail to properly notify employees of the need to request time off, post the necessary notices and update their employment policies. This common-sense legislation reinstates previous language on time off for voting in New York. Coupled with the expanded access included in the state budget, this bill protects employers from costly new mandates while ensuring all New Yorkers can exercise their right to vote.

For these reasons, we strongly support the enactment of this legislation.