Policies

Purpose
Any employee, who is eligible to vote in national, state or local elections, is encouraged to exercise those voting privileges. Work schedules normally permit adequate time for an employee to vote, either before or after normal working hours.

Policy
1) In cases where voting cannot be accomplished in off duty-hours, the University shall grant an employee time off to vote in consideration of provisions of Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 118.035 (2) and (3) as follows:

“(2) As provided in Section 148 of the Constitution of Kentucky, any person entitled to a vote at any election in this state shall, if he has made application for leave prior to the day he appears before the county clerk to request an application for or to execute an absentee ballot, be entitled to absent himself from any services or employment in which he is then engaged or employed for a reasonable time, but not less than four (4) hours on the day he appears before the clerk to request an application for or to execute an absentee ballot, during normal business hours of the office of the clerk or to cast his ballot on the day of the election between the time of opening and closing the polls. The employer may specify the hours during which an employee may absent himself. (3) No person shall be penalized for taking a reasonable time off to vote, unless, under circumstances which did not prohibit him from voting, he fails to vote. Any qualified voter who exercises his right to voting leave under this section but fails to cast his vote, under circumstances which did not prohibit him from voting, may be subject to disciplinary action."

2) A regular employee with a full-time equivalent (FTE) of 0.5 or greater, requesting time off to vote, will receive time off with pay, not to exceed four hours.

3) A regular employee with a FTE of 0.5 or greater who accepts a position as an election official must use accrued vacation leave for that absence.

Note:  Presidential Election Day is a University holiday.

Process
The department head is responsible for receiving requests for time off to vote and scheduling the appropriate time off.

1) A regular employee with a FTE of 0.5 or greater requesting time off to vote normally shall submit a request to the department head at least five working days in advance of the election.

2) Upon receipt of the request, the department head shall normally schedule the time off and notify the employee of the revised work schedule at least three working days in advance of the election.

3) A regular employee with a FTE of 0.5 or greater who does not submit the request within the required time frame shall normally receive time off to vote without pay.

Related Policies

HRP&P 83.0 Holiday Leave