Reminder: USG Policy – Voting leave

As early voting in Georgia begins today, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, and as Election Day approaches on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, we would like to remind you of the University System of Georgia’s Human Resources policy on voting leave. 

The USG encourages employees to exercise their right to vote in all federal, state and local elections. 

Our updated policy complies with state law and allows employees the flexibility to request time off to vote. Please take a moment to review the most recent USG policy on voting leave here.

Key Points from the Voting Leave policy

1. Eligibility: Paid voting leave is available to all regular, fully benefited employees. Up to two (2) hours of paid leave may be granted for voting in municipal, county, state or federal elections.
2. Time-off Requests: Employees must provide reasonable notice to their supervisors and follow standard leave request procedures. Institutions may specify the hours during which voting leave may be taken to minimize operational disruption. Instructions on submitting an absence request for leave (including voting leave) can be found here.
   1. Note: Employees are expected to follow their established departmental procedures for submitting leave requests; this may include action outside of OneUSG prior to entering the leave within the system (e.g., Submitting an email to their supervisor requesting the leave and getting approval before entering the time in OneUSG, placing the approved email on a departmental shared leave calendar, etc.).
3. Additional Time: Employees may use annual leave or compensatory time if more than two hours are needed. Voting leave is not cumulative; unused time does not carry over to future elections/years.
4. Flexible Scheduling: For those employees not eligible for paid voting leave, institutions should offer flexible scheduling to ensure all employees can vote within the two-hour limit.

If you have any questions on the information above, please contact hr@gcsu.edu.