Does working on election day entitle you to double time off or overtime?

Companies authorized to operate on Sundays must give employees who work on election day time off. This is the case of those who work with activities considered essential in the health, industry, commerce, transport, energy and funeral sectors, for example.

For these categories, the professional is entitled to a day off every seven days. If the paid rest day is not granted, the hours worked on Sunday must be paid double, according to lawyer Maurício Pepe De Lion, from Felsberg Advogados.

“It’s a normal day, as long as there is rest on another day of the week,” says Pepe De Lion.

Working on election Sunday only entitles you to 100% overtime in the event of a municipal or state holiday that coincides with polling day. “Or municipal laws that determine that the election day will be a holiday, as well as any specific forecast about work on election days in collective bargaining agreements or conventions”, recalls lawyer Bruno Minoru Okajima, a partner at Autuori Burmann Sociedade de Advogados. .

Regardless of what their activity is, whoever goes to work on election day has the right to leave the workplace to vote or justify their vote without deduction from their salary.

“Companies must develop scales that allow their workers to exercise the right to vote”, says Okajima.

Employers are required by law to release their workers long enough for them to attend polling stations if they are unable to vote before or after their working hours.

In case the employee votes in another city, the absence cannot be discounted. The absence, however, must be agreed in advance with the employer.

The rules also apply to workers who are not required to vote, such as those over 70 and young people between 16 and 18 years old.

This Sunday (2), the voting time will be the same across the country. For the first time, all polling stations will be open from 8 am to 5 pm Brasília time. That is, cities in different zones must adapt to the time of the federal capital, according to the TSE (Superior Electoral Court).