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New Laws for 2020: Paid Leave to Vote Amendment Act of 2019 (Washington D.C.)


At the end of April, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser signed a bill into law that will allow employees in Washington D.C. to take two hours of paid leave to go vote, regardless of that employee’s state of residence.

The legislation is quite expansive as it covers any employer with at least one paid employee.  (Employee, in the context of the Paid Leave to Vote Amendment Act includes “any individual employed by an employer who is eligible to vote.”)  Once an employee puts an employer on notice of the employee’s intent to vote, the employer must provide two hours of paid leave for the employee to do so.  Interestingly enough, while an employer may require that the employee give reasonable notice of intent to use the leave, the reasonable notice (nor how the notice must be given) is specifically defined.

One important thing to keep in mind with this legislation is that there is not a definitive starting date.  The reason?  The funds needed to pay for the leave must be added to the next budget.  Although if I were a betting man, I would wager that this legislation would go into effect before the elections in November.

(And yes, I realize that this is the Paid Leave to Vote Amendment Act of 2019 and this is June of 2020.  But as with many pieces of legislation, it can be a long slog to finally get passed.)



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