What you need to know if you’ll be voting during working hours or have been appointed to serve at a polling station (mesa electoral)
In 20 seconds
- If you work on Sunday 29 November and your working hours overlap with polling hours, you may be entitled to 2 to 4 hours of paid leave. Your employer may ask for proof that you voted.
- If you are appointed to serve at a polling station, you get a full day of paid leave if you are due to work that day, and a five-hour reduction in your working hours the next day (Monday 30), even if Sunday is your day off.
- Your employer decides when you take your time off to vote.
- If you vote by post and work far from home, you are entitled to up to 4 hours to request your certificate of registration on the electoral roll (needed to vote by post).
Spain’s general election will be held on Sunday 29 November. As many people work on Sundays, questions often arise within companies about paid leave to vote or to serve at a polling station. Here are the key points.
Time off to vote and to serve at polling stations is regulated by Spain's Organic Law on the General Electoral System (LOREG) and Royal Decree 605/1999, but some details (such as the exact scale of hours or how pay is calculated when bonuses are involved) are set out in instructions that each autonomous community (regional government) publishes before every election. At the time of writing, the instructions for 29 November had not yet been published.
Am I entitled to time off to vote if I’m working that day?
It depends on how much your working hours overlap with polling hours (9:00 to 20:00):
- Less than 2 hours of overlap: no paid leave.
- 2 to under 4 hours: 2 hours of leave.
- 4 to under 6 hours: 3 hours of leave.
- 6 hours or more: 4 hours of leave.
This is paid leave that does not have to be made up: your employer cannot deduct it from your pay or require you to work the hours back. It can be used to vote and also to request your certificate of registration on the electoral roll. If your working hours do not overlap with polling hours at all, there is no leave, and for shorter-than-usual working days (for example, part-time work), it is reduced proportionally.
Your employer decides when you take it, always within polling hours.
Can my employer ask me to prove that I voted?
Yes. Your employer may request proof of voting, issued by the person chairing the polling station, so that those hours are paid. It is a good idea to ask for it at the polling station when you vote.
How is my pay calculated for those hours?
According to the instructions usually published in Catalonia, if part of your salary is variable (a bonus or incentive), that part is calculated using the average received for that item over the six months worked immediately before.
What leave do I get if I vote by post?
Employees who work far from their usual home, or under conditions that make it difficult to vote in person, may take up to 4 hours of paid leave to request their certificate of registration on the electoral roll in person.
Requests can be made from 6 October to 19 November, and the vote must be sent by registered post by 25 November at the latest.
What if I’m appointed to serve at a polling station?
Employees (on an employment contract, not self-employed) appointed as chair or members of a polling station are entitled to a full day of paid leave on election day, if it is a working day, and, in any case, to a five-hour reduction in their working hours the following day.
- Even if Sunday is your day off. If you are not scheduled to work that day, you still keep the five-hour reduction on Monday.
- Five hours. The Central Electoral Board (the body that oversees the electoral process) considers that, in principle, these are the first five hours of the following working day.
- Night shifts. The night from Saturday to Sunday is considered part of election day, so you cannot be required to work it, and anyone serving as chair or member may request a shift change to rest. If you work the night from Sunday to Monday, you are entitled to the five-hour reduction.
- Substitutes. They must report to the polling station at 8:00 on Sunday. If they end up replacing the appointed member, they are entitled to the leave, the reduced hours and the allowance (the payment for serving at the polling station); if they do not take up the post, they are not.
- It is mandatory. Serving at a polling station is compulsory, unless there is a valid reason accepted by the Electoral Board.
What if I’m a polling agent or authorised representative of a candidate list?
These are people appointed by candidate lists to represent them and monitor voting and the vote count. If they are employees, they are also entitled to leave, provided they can prove their role (that is, show they have been appointed):
- Polling agents (interventores). They are entitled to the same leave as polling station members: a full day of paid leave on election day, if it is a working day, and a five-hour reduction the following day.
- Authorised representatives (apoderados). They are entitled to paid leave on election day, unless it is their weekly rest day.
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