This month’s newsletter isn’t a political commentary about how you should vote in next week’s election. It is just a reminder of two events coming up in the next few days and some guidelines for preparing for them.
The first is the time change. Sunday morning, October 31st at 2 a.m., people will turn their clocks back one hour everywhere in the country, except Arizona, Hawaii and most of Indiana. How does this affect employers? Those who work overnight shifts may end up receiving an extra hour of pay. For example, assume an employee is normally scheduled to work from 10 p.m. Saturday night to 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning with 30 minutes off for lunch. Because of the time change, if the employee’s schedule is left the same this weekend, he or she will actually work 9 hours that Saturday/Sunday shift. Additionally, the extra hour may end up being counted as overtime if the total time worked in the workweek exceeds 40 hours. In California, the extra hour may be counted as overtime if the total time worked in the workday exceeds 8 hours. For employers who do not want to incur overtime, they can end the shift one hour earlier than normal so that actual work time for employees will remain eight hours.
After the time change, the next event is Election Day on Tuesday. Having the election after the time change is good because it gives all of the undecided voters an extra hour to weigh their choices and select a candidate. For U.S. citizens, the ability to vote is not just a privilege we enjoy, but a right and civic duty. For that reason, nearly every state has a law requiring employers to make sure employees have sufficient time to vote on Election Day. Most states only require that employees have two hours off outside of work hours to vote, but some require as many as three or four hours. If is not possible to schedule an employee’s hours so that he or she has sufficient time to vote, some states even require the employer to give time off with pay.
With most polls opening early and staying open late these days, scheduling sufficient time should not be a problem, but employers should be aware of the specific laws in their states when setting schedules or permitting employees to take time off that day. There are two sites that provide specific information about state voting rules. The sites are the CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit at http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/P05_4335.asp. Click on your state to find the specific provisions. The other site is the Ford & Harrison law firm at http://www.fordharrison.com/fh/news/articles/20041014time_for_voting.asp. This site has a table that you can scroll through. All of us at HRCentral encourage everyone to exercise their civic duty and vote. As the 2000 presidential election showed, every vote counts.