Voting Leave Requirements in New York

At a glance

The four-hour test uses one continuous block

Section 3-110 treats an employee as having sufficient voting time when there are four consecutive hours between poll opening and the shift's start, or four consecutive hours between the shift's end and poll closing. Shorter periods on opposite sides of the shift do not satisfy that wording by being added together.

For example, two nonworking polling hours before work and two after work are not either of the four-consecutive-hour blocks the statute describes. The employee may take enough working time that, combined with available voting time outside work, enables the employee to vote.

Two hours is the pay cap, not the leave formula

The statute protects up to two qualifying hours from loss of pay. It calculates the total absence differently: the employee may take the amount of working time needed to enable voting after available outside-work time is taken into account.

If more than two working hours are genuinely needed, § 3-110 does not say the additional portion must be paid. It also does not give every employee an automatic two-hour absence; the four-hour test applies first.

The employer designates a shift edge

Voting leave must be at the beginning or end of the employee's shift, and the employer designates which edge. The employee and employer may mutually agree to a different arrangement.

Because the statute refers to any day on which the registered voter may vote at any election, its coverage is not written only for the traditional election-day period. The actual poll hours on the voting day still control the four-hour test.

Both sides have advance duties

An employee who needs working time must notify the employer no more than 10 and no fewer than two working days before the election. Notice outside that window does not match the statutory procedure.

Every employer must conspicuously post the provisions of § 3-110 where employees can see them entering or leaving work. The posting begins at least 10 working days before every election and remains through the close of polls on election day.

What trips people up

New York's safe window is four consecutive hours entirely before or entirely after the shift. It is not four total nonworking hours scattered around the workday.

The two-hour number limits required pay; it does not replace the statute's enough-time-to-vote calculation. The employer's designation power is also limited to a shift edge unless the parties mutually agree otherwise.

Common questions

Does every registered voter receive two paid hours?

No. The voter must first lack a qualifying four-consecutive-hour block outside the shift, and the leave amount is the working time needed to enable voting.

May the employee choose the middle of the shift?

Not unilaterally under § 3-110. The employer designates the beginning or end of the shift unless both sides agree to another arrangement.

How long must the employer's notice remain posted?

From at least 10 working days before every election until the polls close on election day.

Statutes and sources

• N.Y. Elec. Law § 3-110(1)-(4): eligibility, four-hour test, leave amount, paid cap, shift-edge designation, employee notice, and employer posting — official text (accessed July 13, 2026).