It’s election time again! And while waiting in line in back of a bunch of old people to cast your vote isn’t the most exciting thing to look forward to, your vote is matters and, you may not know this, you are also legally entitled to 2 hours paid time off to head to the polls in California.
California’s Election Code section 14001 requires that employers allow their workers as much time as they need to vote (with two hours of that paid) if their work schedule does not give them the proper amount of time to vote. Your boss was legally required to post this notice about this.
Now sure, you were also legally required to tell your boss 2 working days in advance that you need the time off – so just throw it in the middle of a conversation about how amazing they are or something or, on Election Day, just tell them you mentioned it already and they must’ve forgotten.
Two hours might at first seem like a lot at first, but there are a lot of propositions to consider and those elders in front of you do take quite a bit of time at the ballot box. Which, umm, are they okay? Should someone check on them? Oh wait, there they are. Phew.
Now sure, you could’ve just mailed in your ballot weeks ago, but you can just go ahead and keep that a secret from your boss and coworkers). Now you can use those two hours however you want: see a movie, go to a bar, get a workout in – it’s up to you.
To make it look official, you will want to order some of these to wear when you get back to the office and probably some breath mints too, at least for those who chose to spend their 2 hours “voting” at the bar.
