Time Off to Vote Act
Key claim: If enacted, employers would have to give requesting workers two consecutive paid hours on federal election days to vote or handle voting-related tasks, and could not cut benefits, interfere, or retaliate for using that leave.
Abstract
(HR4908 · 119th Congress) Time Off to Vote Act This bill requires an employer, upon the request of an employee, to provide the employee with a minimum of two consecutive hours of paid leave while polls or sites that facilitate voting-related activity are open on the day of a federal election. This allotted time may be used to vote, return a mail-in ballot, or perform other voting-related activities. The employer may determine the two-hour period, excluding any lunch break or other break. Taking such leave shall not result in the employee losing accrued employment benefits. The bill makes it unlawful for an employer to interfere with the right to take such leave or for an employer to discriminate against an employee for taking such leave. Further, the bill makes it unlawful for any employer to retaliate against an employee for (1) opposing any practice made unlawful by this bill; (2) filing a charge, or instituting or causing to be instituted any proceeding, under or related to this bill; or (3) testifying or preparing to testify in an inquiry or proceeding relating to such leave. The bill specifies penalties for employers who violate these provisions. Latest action (2025-08-05): Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Why this matters
A nationwide paid voting-leave mandate would standardize an employment right that currently varies widely by state, directly affecting hourly and shift workers who often face the steepest trade-off between a workday and casting a ballot. The bill ties voting access to workplace protections — pay continuity, anti-interference, and anti-retaliation — placing it at the intersection of labor and election-access law. As an introduced House measure not yet past committee, its practical effect depends entirely on advancement.