Sponsors (53)
The bill increases voting access by guaranteeing paid time to vote for employees at medium-and-large workplaces, but shifts costs, scheduling burdens, and compliance complexity onto employers and layered government authorities.
Employees at firms with 25+ workers (including hourly, shift workers, students, and many middle-class families) gain at least two consecutive paid hours on Federal election days to vote or perform voting-related tasks without losing accrued benefits, increasing practical access to voting.
The Department of Labor is given enforcement authority and civil penalties (up to $10,000) to deter employer noncompliance, creating a federal mechanism to uphold the voting-leave requirement.
Employers with 25+ employees face added compliance costs and the risk of civil penalties (up to $10,000 per violation), increasing administrative burdens and potential financial liability for businesses.
Employers may need to alter staffing, pay for additional hours, or absorb operational disruptions on election days to provide paid voting leave, raising labor costs and scheduling challenges for businesses.
A new federal standard could create overlapping requirements with existing state and local voting-leave laws, increasing legal complexity for employers and state/local governments despite preserving more protective state rules.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Requires employers with 25+ employees to give employees 2 consecutive hours of paid leave on Federal election days to vote or perform voting-related activities, on request.
Introduced August 5, 2025 by Nikema Williams · Last progress August 5, 2025
Requires employers with 25 or more employees engaged in commerce to give any employee, on request, at least two consecutive hours of paid leave on any Federal election day while polls or voting sites are open so the employee can vote, return an in-person mailed ballot, or perform other voting-related activities. Employers may pick the two-hour period (including during State-authorized early voting) but cannot count an employee’s paid lunch or break toward those two hours; taking the leave cannot reduce other accrued benefits. Gives the Secretary of Labor investigative authority similar to that used for FMLA enforcement and allows civil penalties up to $10,000 per violation (with factors such as business size and good faith considered). The rule takes effect beginning with the first Federal election after enactment and does not override state or local laws that provide greater or more beneficial voting leave.