Policy No. 5:01:01:12

Subject: Voting Leave

It is the policy of the Tennessee Board of Regents to provide employees time off to vote in state, national, and local elections and to establish a procedure for reporting the time missed from work.

Employees who are registered voters may receive reasonable time off to vote if they request such time off before 12:00 noon the day before the election. The supervisor may specify the hours during which the employee may be absent to vote, and the time off may not exceed three hours. No time off will be granted if the polls in the county where the employee is a resident are open three (3) or more hours before the employee is scheduled to begin work or if the polls close three (3) or more hours after the employee's work schedule ends.

Time off to vote shall be recorded as non-duty pay hours. Time off to vote is recorded for non-exempt employees as non-worked time when calculating overtime.

In accordance with T.C.A. § 2-9-103 , any full-time employee appointed by a county election commission to work part-time as a voting machine technician, shall be granted unpaid leave for the day(s) required for the technician's duties. Supporting documentation may be required by the appropriate approving authority for the period of duty.

An employer may not require the employee to use accrued annual leave and/or compensatory time for this period. However, either may be used at the employee's option.

Source: TCA 2-1-106, TBR Meeting: June 25, 1993; October 2, 1998.