Can I use my company's voting time off policy to vote in a primary caucus?

Question

Can I use my company's voting time off policy to vote in a primary caucus?

Answer 1

Yes

Answer 2

Yes, but it depends on your company and the state where you live.  It is he individual state laws (And yes JMH, there are laws requiring employers to give time off to vote) that define if and when you can get time off to vote.

Answer 3

Yes.  The policy should extend to ANY time there is an election day as long as it is officially run by the county registrar or city clerk where you live.  (i.e. voting for Teacher of the Year at your daughter's school doesn't count.)  But I think that you get that.

Answer 4

Dave...

Your question is CAN you use the policy this way.  You have not asked whether you should be able to use it this way.  You haven't asked whether one thinks it's a good idea or the right thing to do to allow it to be used this way.  Your question is, CAN you?

There is no possible way anyone here can answer that question definitively.  The only way to know is to consult your human resources' department's employee handbook or policy manual.  If it's not clearly spelled out in the language of the company's "voting time off" policy, then do as has been suggested and ask the question of your supervisor or HR manager.

Any other answer is pure guesswork and therefore unreliable.

FYI -- There is no law requiring an employer in the US to give anyone time off to vote, nor is there any law that says that if an employer grants time off to vote in a general election, the employer must also grant time off to vote in a primary election or participate in a caucus.

EDIT:

Pat:  Thank you for this clarification.  I was obviously incorrect in my assertion.  I would only point out that there is no federal law that requires states to pass laws granting this time off.  If there were, every state would have such a law on the books (clearly they don't).  Similarly, if there were a federal law covering the workplace, no state would have to pass an individual law.  That is all I was saying, although I concede I did not say it very clearly.

As the information on the link you provided explains, most state laws requiring employers to grant work time off to vote apply only in situations where the polls in a locality are open and closed at more or less the same time as the workplace is open and closed.  If a poll is open two or three hours before and after the employee's normal work day (as almost all polling places are, unless you work a 12-hour shift), the employer has no specific obligation to do anything else.  The employee is expected to use that non-work time to perform his/her civic duty.

Thank you again for the correction.  It's appreciated.

Answer 5

Ask permission from your superior if voting in a primary could be considered working time.