Companies cope with MIA voters

It’s not exactly the all-at-once rush of leaving the office early to take the kids trick-or-treating, but the presidential election is making employers cope with some unexpected absences.

Every Election Day raises questions about companies meeting legal obligations to permit workers the time needed to cast ballots. But this time, the volume seems cranked up.

Interest in voting is running high and advance polling places have been open for weeks. Early voting was intended to draw more voters and give them a chance to avoid Election Day lines. The idea has proven popular — and that has pretty much killed the notion of eliminating lines. Many polling stations have reported long, long waits.

“When I arrived at 7:05, there were hundreds of people in a line that wrapped around the corner of the building outside, and then snaked down both sides of a long, winding corridor inside,” said George Wellborn, who voted in DeKalb County Wednesday. “Here’s a tip for Northlake voters: when you reach the water fountain you have 25 minutes to go. I was done by 8:30.”

Despite this week’s long lines, many employers are hoping that spreading out the process still will mean less workplace disruption Tuesday.

“Based on the fact there’s been a lot of early voting, that’s not a big concern,” said Ron DeFeo, Home Depot’s spokesman.

But the long lines to vote mean the company must stay flexible, he said. “What we’ve been asking is that each associate work out a time with their manager to vote if they wish to take time off during their scheduled work time.”

Still, Tuesday’s election could pose a problem for workers who have to adhere to time clocks.

One Atlanta law firm said it has been swamped with calls from employers with a variety of election-related concerns.

“We’ve had more calls than we’ve had for prior elections,” said Jennifer Sandberg, a partner at Fisher & Phillips. “We’re not getting a sense from employers that they’re looking at Tuesday as an opportunity to get rid of people. But we are seeing employers are wanting workers to get out and vote.”

Even so, Sandberg concedes that some workers could get shut out of the voting process on Tuesday.

“The law only requires that they get up to two hours. So in theory if a worker takes more than two hours, their job could likely not be there when they get back [to work],” Sandberg said.

Georgia law requires employers to grant their workers up to two hours to vote on the day of an election; it doesn’t specifically mention early voting. On the day of an election, the law says, employers can specify which two hours workers can use to vote. The provision doesn’t apply to people whose work hours begin at least two hours after the polls open or end at least two hours before polls close.

To avoid conflicts between voting and working, state officials say they are relying on a combination of common sense and civic responsibility.

“Secretary [Karen] Handel is confident employers will work with employees,” said Matt Carrothers, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office.

Coca-Cola Co. gave its employees information about the options of absentee voting and early voting, said spokesman Dana Bolden. “We encourage employees to vote and trust that they will use their best judgment as they decide when to vote.”

Since polls will be open for 12 hours Tuesday, employees should have time to vote either before or after work, he said.

Planning is key to avoiding a problem, said Matt Gove, senior vice president at Cousins Properties. “We are not asking employees to vote early but we do ask employees who take time off of work to vote to give their supervisor at least two days’ notice.”

At Post Properties too, workers were provided with information about how and where to vote. However, the company is not concerned that employees will end up missing too much work time, said David Stockert, president and CEO.

Long waits to vote shouldn’t change the basic principles of democracy, said Atlanta Gas Light spokesman Jack Holt.

“AGL employees are strongly encouraged to exercise their rights and privileges as Americans and to vote in the elections,” he said. “We ask managers and supervisors to be flexible, given some of the voting time issues out there.”

Staff writers Tammy Joyner, Jamie Gumbrecht, Aaron Shenin Gould, Joe Guy Collier, Margaret Newkirk, Kevin Duffy and Rachel Tobin Ramos contributed to this story.