West Virginia law requires employers to provide up to three hours of paid time off on Election Day to vote if:
- The employee has provided notice in writing at least three days prior to the election, and;
- The employee does not have three hours available during voting hours prior to or after the employee’s scheduled workday.
If you meet those criteria and your employer refuses to give you paid time off, please contact our voter hotline immediately at 681-443-7083 or 681-443-7065
Below is a template notice that voters may download and use to notify employers of their request for three hours of paid time off on Election Day. The notice must be submitted to employers at least three days in advance of November 6. Voters should fill in the date, the name of their employer, and their own name in the spaces provided. A link to this page is provided in the notice for employers and voters to see the full text of the law.
West Virginia Code Section 3-1-42:
Every person entitled to vote at any election who may be employed by any person, company, or corporation on the day on which such election shall be held in this state, shall, on written demand of such employee, made at least three days prior thereto, be given a period of not more than three hours, if necessary, between the opening and the closing of the polls on such day, for the purpose of enabling such person to repair to the place of voting to cast his vote and return, without liability to any penalty or deduction from his usual salary or wages on account of such absence, except that any employee, who has three or more hours of his own time away from his work or place of employment at any time between the hours of the opening and the closing of the polls on election day and who fails or neglects to vote or elects not to vote during such free time away from his work or employment, may be subject to wage or salary deductions for the time actually absent from his work or employment for voting in such election.
In essential government, health, hospital, transportation and communication services and in production, manufacturing and processing works requiring continuity in operation, the employer may, upon receipt of such written demand for voting time off, arrange and schedule a calendar of time off for any and all of his employees for voting so as to avoid impairment or disruption of essential services and operations, but every such schedule or calendar of time off for voting so arranged shall provide ample and convenient time and opportunity for each employee of such services or works to cast his vote as herein provided.
