Other Work Issues Article
Elections and the Workplace
Employees may want to vote in an election, but cannot afford to miss work. Other employees may want to vote, but their employer will not let them take the take time off to vote. There is a law in Arizona that requires employers to give employees paid time to vote.Arizona Revised Statute 16-402 requires Arizona employers to provide time off for an employee to vote in a primary or general election if the employee has less than three hours either before or after work in which to vote. The employer cannot deduct pay for work time missed as part of these three consecutive hours to vote. This voting law says the employer, not the employee, can specify the hours the employee can take off work to vote.
For example, if the polls are open from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. and an employee’s work schedule is from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., the employee has only one hour to vote before the employee is scheduled to start work or just two hours to vote after the employee’s work shift ends. The employee does not have three consecutive hours to vote before or after the workday. Therefore, the employee is entitled to some paid time off to vote if the employee wants to vote in the election.
The employer can specify the employee’s three consecutive hours to vote are from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. or from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. If the employer specifies the three consecutive hours to vote are from 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., the employee must pay the employee for any work missed due to from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. because the employee was voting. The employer is not obligated to pay the employee from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. because this time is not part of the employee’s regular shift.
If the employer specifies the three consecutive hours to vote are from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. the employer must pay the employee for work missed after 4:00 p.m. The employer is not obligated to pay the employee from 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. because this time is not part of the employee’s regular shift.
Employers can require that employees wanting to take time off to vote must apply for the time off prior to the election date. The law does not specify the method in which employees must apply for the time off.
What to do if you are denied time off to vote
If you inform your employer prior to the election date that you will need time off to vote and your employer denies your time off, speak to your employer’s HR department or the person in charge of the company.
If you are still denied time off to vote, you may contact the Arizona attorney general office who can file misdemeanor charges against your employer. Here is the contact information for the Arizona attorney general offices;
Phoenix Office
1275 West Washington Street
Phoenix, AZ 85007-2926
(602) 542-5025
Tucson Office
400 West Congress
South Building, Suite 315
Tucson, AZ 85701-1367
(520) 628-6504
Prescott Office
1000 Ainsworth Dr.
Suite A-210
Prescott, AZ 86305-1610
(928) 778-1265
Comments:
QUESTIONS
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I quit my employer after 12 years employment. After i changed states I reapplied and was told that I was Blacked Balled from applying because of attendance. Is there anything i can do?
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Can my employer use my AZ Sick Time PLUS deduct the same time from my personally accrued PTO? For example, I've been out sick and exhausted the 40 hours of AZ Sick Time. At the same time, my Employer is also using 40 hours of my personal PTO for a total of 16 hours per day sick time instead of the 8 hours I'm out of the office sick. Is this Legal???
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if i was to be offered living allowances by my company while travelling but returned home could this be seen as an act of fraud
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I got an interview at this Job about a month and half ago I worked there 4 half days. Right after the 4th day she than told me I don't need you anymore. I'm not hiring you. Told me she had my hours written down. She's gonna pay me sometime soon. I texted her a week later asking what's going on she said she's gonna talk to the owner. Didn't hear back. I than contacted her last Monday and she told me she was not gonna pay me since I wasn't there more than two weeks. That's illegal right ?? What can I do to get my money ?
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How old do you have to be to get a job in arizona ? online it says 14 but i want to be sure.
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What if a customer is not willing to provide reasonable accommodations for an illness or disability? Who can you contact?
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I made a 98.00 mistake on the register can the owner make me pay for it.
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Why am I forced by my employer to pay for online Arizona lottery tickets that customers refuse to pay for when they claim the tickets were not how they asked them to be. I am now even being threatened with being fired if the lottery sales numbers are off! My paycheck has been garnished twice for this and all employees are harrased over this idiotic lottery policy and paranoid with making a wrong register key slip because regardless of actual money lost or just essentially an overring it is Always the same ,lottery number being short real or not, we pay. Is this Legal??
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I work in sales with commissions and might be changing jobs. Will I be due the commissions from my old job?
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I am a truck driver and I drive the company truck. My company is asking me to sign a policy in which if there is any damage to the truck I will have to pay out my own pocket. If we do not sign the policy we will be fired. Is this legal? What type of attorney would I hire to review the policy?
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