As part of the New York State Enacted Budget for fiscal year 2020, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that new legislation has been established that mandates three hours of paid time off for all New York employees to vote on Election Day.

Effective immediately, the New York Election Law § 3-110 provides, as follows:

A registered voter may, without loss of pay for up to three hours, take off so much working time as will enable him or her to vote at any election …

Under the new law, all employees may request up to three hours of paid time off to vote, regardless of their work schedules, as long as the request is made at least two working days prior to the election. The employer may designate that any requested time be taken at the beginning or the end of shift.

Prior to the revision, the New York State election law provided that an employee was entitled to time off to vote only if he or she did not have four consecutive hours in which to vote between the opening of the polls and the beginning of the employee’s work shift or the end of the employee’s work shift and the close of the polls. The law also limited an employer’s pay obligation to two hours.

Employers should ensure that their policies are updated to reflect the new changes.