Amendment ID: S2545-4

Amendment 4

Paid time off for voting

Ms. Rausch, Ms. Chang-Diaz, Mr. Eldridge, Ms. Jehlen, Messrs. Brady, Feeney, Gomez and Timilty move that the proposed new draft be amended by inserting at the end thereof the following new section:-

SECTION XX. Chapter 149 of the general laws is hereby amended by striking out section 178 and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

Section 178. Paid leave from work for voting.

(a) For purposes of this section, the terms "employer" and "employee" shall be defined as in section 1 of chapter 175M.

(b) An employee who is eligible to vote shall be entitled, upon request, to take two hours of paid leave to be used for the purpose of casting a ballot in any city or town election and presidential or state primary or election. An employee may elect to take said paid voting leave at any point during any applicable early in-person voting or mail voting period or on the date the polls are open. An employee shall be entitled to paid voting leave for each election in which the employee wishes to vote.

(c) It shall be unlawful for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of, or the attempt to exercise, the right to take paid voting leave under this section, including without limitation considering such exercise or attempt to exercise as a negative factor in any employment action such as evaluation, promotion, disciplinary action or termination, or otherwise subjecting an employee to discipline for the use of or attempt to use paid voting leave under this section.