I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5322 

To provide employees with a minimum of two consecutive hours of paid 

leave in order to vote in Federal elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023 

Mr. CARTWRIGHT (for himself, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, Mr. POCAN, Mr. 

BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. THOMPSON

of Mississippi, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. PORTER, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. EVANS, 

Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. WILSON of 

Florida, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, Ms. CLARKE of New 

York, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. 

PRESSLEY, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. 

MULLIN, Ms. BROWN, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. BALINT, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. SEWELL, Ms. CROCKETT, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Ms. NORTON, 

Mr. DELUZIO, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. NICKEL, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. 

TITUS, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. GREEN of Texas, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. JOHNSON

of Georgia, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 

KRISHNAMOORTHI, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. 

CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. MEEKS, 

Mrs. NAPOLITANO, Ms. SALINAS, Mr. CARSON, Mr. TRONE, Mr. COHEN, 

and Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Education and the Workforce 

A BILL 

To provide employees with a minimum of two consecutive 

hours of paid leave in order to vote in Federal elections. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Time Off to Vote Act’’. 

3 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR TWO HOURS PAID LEAVE TO 

4 VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 

5 (a) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE LEAVE.—Upon the 

6 request of an employee, an employer shall provide to each 

7 employee a minimum of two consecutive hours of paid 

8 leave on the day of any Federal election in order to vote. 

9 (b) EMPLOYER RIGHT TO DETERMINE TWO-HOUR

10 PERIOD.—For each employee taking leave under sub11 section (a), the employer of such employee may specify 

12 the hours during which the employee may take such leave, 

13 including by requiring that the employee take the leave 

14 during a period designated for early voting instead of on 

15 the day of the election, as applicable under State law. Any 

16 lunch break or other break period may not be included 

17 in the two-hour period designated for leave, but may be 

18 taken consecutively with the 2-hour period described in 

19 subsection (a). 

20 (c) NO LOSS OF BENEFITS.—The taking of leave 

21 under this section shall not result in the loss of any em22 ployment benefit accrued prior to the date on which the 

23 leave was taken. 

24 (d) PROHIBITED ACTS.— 

25 (1) INTERFERENCE WITH RIGHTS UNDER THIS

26 ACT.—It shall be unlawful for any employer to interVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Sep 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5322.IH H5322

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1 fere with, restrain, or deny the exercise of or the at2 tempt to exercise, the right to take leave under this 

3 Act, or to discriminate against an employee in any 

4 manner for taking leave under this Act. 

5 (2) RETALIATION.—It shall be unlawful for any 

6 employer to discharge or in any other manner dis7 criminate against any individual for— 

8 (A) opposing any practice made unlawful 

9 by this section; 

10 (B) filing any charge, or instituting or 

11 causing to be instituted any proceeding, under 

12 or related to this section; 

13 (C) giving or preparing to give any infor14 mation in connection with any inquiry or pro15 ceeding relating to any leave provided under 

16 this section; or 

17 (D) testifying or preparing to testify in 

18 any inquiry or proceeding relating to any leave 

19 provided under this section. 

20 (e) INVESTIGATIVE AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of 

21 Labor shall have investigative authority with respect to the 

22 provisions of this subsection in the same manner and 

23 under the same terms and conditions as the investigative 

24 authority provided under section 106 of the Family and 

25 Medical Leave Act of 1993 (29 U.S.C. 2616), and the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:08 Sep 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5322.IH H5322

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1 quirements of section 106 of such Act shall apply to em2 ployers under this subsection in the same manner as such 

3 requirements apply to employers under section 106 of such 

4 Act. 

5 (f) ENFORCEMENT.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any employer that violates 

7 this Act may be subject to a civil penalty not to ex8 ceed $10,000 per violation. Civil penalties shall be 

9 assessed by and paid to the Secretary of Labor for 

10 deposit into the Treasury of the United States and 

11 shall accrue to the United States and may be recov12 ered in a civil action in the name of the United 

13 States brought in the United States district court 

14 for the district where the violation is alleged to have 

15 occurred or where the employer has its principal of16 fice. 

17 (2) CONSIDERATIONS.—In assessing a civil pen18 alty under this Act, the Secretary shall give due con19 sideration to the appropriateness of the penalty with 

20 respect to the size of the business of the employer 

21 being charged, the gravity of the violation, the good 

22 faith of the employer, and the history of previous 

23 violations. 

24 (g) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘employee’’ has the meaning given 

2 such term in section 3 of the Fair Labor Standards 

3 Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 203); and 

4 (2) the term ‘‘employer’’ means any person en5 gaged in commerce or in any industry or activity af6 fecting commerce who employs 25 or more employ7 ees during a calendar year, and includes any person 

8 who acts, directly or indirectly, in the interest of an 

9 employer to any of the employees of such employer 

10 and any successor in interest of an employer. In the 

11 previous sentence, the terms ‘‘commerce’’ and ‘‘in12 dustry or activity affecting commerce’’ have the 

13 meaning given such terms in section 101(1) of the 

14 Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993. 

15 (h) STATE AND LOCAL LAWS.—Nothing in this Act 

16 shall be construed to supersede any provision of any State 

17 or local law that requires an employer to provide leave to 

18 an employee, for the purpose of voting in any Federal, 

19 State, or municipal election, in an amount greater than 

20 that required under this Act, or under terms more bene21 ficial to an employee than those provided under this Act. 

22 (i) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall take effect 

23 beginning with the first Federal election held after the 

24 date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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