muckefuck | "Pull off my shirt and pray"

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"Pull off my shirt and pray"

Today is timesheet approval day, and I do hope I haven't offended the les Immortels in the Payroll office. One of them called me up yesterday to tell me that the two hours I took off a week ago Tuesday to go vote would have to be converted to Personal Holiday hours since paid time off was only for "primary elections". It took a bit of interrogation to clarify that what she really meant was "Presidential elections" (by which logic I suppose Congress is a "secondary" body--the Framers would be so chuffed!). When I disputed this, pointing out that my supervisor had told me it was approved, she replied, "It's in the Staff Handbook." So I acquiesced.

And it would've died there had I not thought to inform one of my direct reports about the ruling. She told me that was not what Personnel had told her. So I looked in the Staff Handbook myself and found:

Employees who are unable to vote before or after regular working hours on Election Day may take the time needed to vote, not to exceed two hours, during the working day without loss of pay.

Nothing about the President in there. So I asked my buddy in Personnel what was the deal.

Shortly after the answer came back: They would approve the hours this time, but then they would revise the Staff Handbook to clarify the policy. But how could that policy pass muster outside the institution? To my surprise, there's no Federal mandate that employees have to have release time in order to vote. But it is up to the states and the Illinois statute seems pretty clear on the matter:

10 ILCS 5/17‑15) (from Ch. 46, par. 17‑15)
Sec. 17‑15. Any person entitled to vote at a general or special election or at any election at which propositions are submitted to a popular vote in this State, shall, on the day of such election, be entitled to absent himself from any services or employment in which he is then engaged or employed, for a period of 2 hours between the time of opening and closing the polls; and such voter shall not because of so absenting himself be liable to any penalty; Provided, however, that application for such leave of absence shall be made prior to the day of election. The employer may specify the hours during which said employee may absent himself as aforesaid, except that the employer must permit a 2‑hour absence during working hours if the employee's working hours begin less than 2 hours after the opening of the polls and end less than 2 hours before the closing of the polls. No person or corporation shall refuse to an employee the privilege hereby conferred, nor shall subject an employee to a penalty, including a reduction in compensation due to an absence under this Section, because of the exercise of such privilege, nor shall directly or indirectly violate the provisions of this Section. (Source: P.A. 94‑645, eff. 8‑22‑05.)

So I copied the text and e-mailed it to my Personnel contact with the comment "The long and short of it is if they do attempt to rewrite the Staff Handbook to limit the provision to Presidential Elections only, then I will notify the Illinois Attorney General's Office." And she forwarded it all to Personnel. So now what was simply an aside to a neutral colleague comes off sounding like a threat. A threat to people of demonstrated incompetence who I've made look bad and who control whether and when I get paid. I'm sure I won't ever have cause to regret that!

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In the end they did need to know this, so you did them a favor.

You'd think people in personnel offices would know a thing or two about employment laws.

After the shennanigans I've seen, I don't take anything for granted about employees' knowledge.

Though the policy does seem broader than the law requires.

I'm sure your colleagues at the Law Library will have your back, though.

Though if they wanted to be jerks about it, they could probably make a point of only having to allow absence during working hours "if the employee's working hours begin less than 2 hours after the opening of the polls and end less than 2 hours before the closing of the poll" provision. (Unless you start work before 8 and stay till after 5, which some people do, but is less common in academia.)

Either way, making policy decisions about what constitutes an "important" election strikes me as above their pay grade: set one policy for elections and stick with it.

Rather than going through your friend in the personnel office, it might have been better to contact someone higher up in the organization that actually has some power over personnel, saying "Personnel is saying that it wants to do this illegal thing - maybe someone should head them off before the inevitable lawsuit." It's likely, given that Personnel also talked to one of your direct reports about it, that they also talked to a few other people in the organization, so they wouldn't necessarily blame you for ratting them out to the person with power.

Remind me again why the US tends to put elections on days when most people work?

In Germany, they seem to always be on Sundays - sure, some people work there, but a lot fewer than on any other day of the week. (Due in part, of course, also to the laws here, e.g. the Ladenschlussgesetz which prohibits most shops from opening on Sundays, with only a small number of exceptions possible per year.)

Because this is America! Every day is a day when most people work!

Really, with all the provisions for absentee ballots and early voting, there's less excuse than ever for needing the time on the day itself. Even with the crutches, I wouldn't have needed it if I'd only managed my time better.

The simple answer is its in the Constitution: first Tuesday in November. To change it would require a constitutional amendment.

Most states and counties just piggy-back on the national elections (cheaper that way), but not all elections do that. The Chicago mayoral election is in February, for example. There's no reason some of them can't be on weekends, except tradition, I guess.

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