Your boss may owe you Election Day paid time off

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — If you're scheduled to work on Election Day, your employer may be required to give you paid time off to vote.

According to Arizona law, workers who do not have three consecutive hours before or after their shift to vote are entitled to time off without facing penalties or losing pay.

"It's a law that most people are not familiar with because it becomes relevant so infrequently, and now with the popularity of mail-in voting, it doesn't really impact a lot of people," said Scottsdale attorney John Balitis, who specializes in labor and employment issues. "But there still are obviously a lot of people who like the experience of physically going to the polls and voting, and for those people, it's important for them to know about the law."

If you work a traditional 9-to-5 schedule, the law doesn't directly impact you. Polls are open from 6:00am until 7:00pm on Election Day, so you'd have a three hour block of time to vote before your work day starts.

But let's say you work a 10-hour shift from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m. You'd only have two hours available before work or one hour available after work, so your employer would have to give you at least one hour of paid time off.

"It's the employer's prerogative to pick the hour," Balitis said. "I doubt many employers will want to give you three hours in the middle of the day, so they're normally going to tell you, 'Ok. You can take an hour in the morning or an hour in the afternoon,' or whatever the case may be to make up that three-hour window."

If you plan to take paid time off to vote, you have to tell your employer at least one day before Election Day.

"The law is completely silent on how you give your notice," Balitis said. "You could give it in writing. You could give it orally. You could send an email message. The law doesn't specify, so presumably any way you give the notice would be adequate."

This only applies to Tuesday, Nov 5—Election Day.

Even though in-person voting is open in Arizona, you can't request paid time off to vote any day other than Election Day, Balitis said. According to the law, employers who refuse to provide paid time off for eligible workers could face misdemeanor charges.