7.13 Leave for Civic Responsibilities
- Voting Time Leave
Piedmont University believes that it is the responsibility of employees to exercise their privilege and right to vote in elections. Piedmont University will allow employees 2 hours of unpaid time off of work to vote in-person for primaries and election. Piedmont employees should inform their supervisor or department head, in a reasonable amount of time, for the request of leave to vote. In accordance with Georgia Law, employees are allowed up to 2 hours of unpaid leave to express their right to vote. Employees can take off on the day of an election or a day that is designated for in-person early voting.
- Jury Duty or Court Appearance Leave
Full-time and part-time employees who are subpoenaed to serve on jury duty or to testify at the order of a court will be allowed to fulfill this duty. However, employees appearing in court on their own (personal) behalf, as plaintiffs, or as defendants, must use vacation leave time.
Employees are required to report to work on any full day or partial day during which they are released from jury duty or court appearances unless the time is reported and used as vacation leave time. Provided the appearance in court is a requirement of the court and is not for the employee’s personal benefit, compensation will not be decreased for the time away from work up to a period of two weeks per year. Proof of required attendance from the Clerk of the Court may be requested.
Hours spent on jury duty or court appearances are not considered “hours worked:” therefore, the hours are not considered in the calculation of overtime pay.
As paid hours, hours spent on jury duty or court appearances are considered for benefit time accumulation and holiday eligibility. If benefits are to become effective on the date of the jury duty or court appearances, there will be no delay in the effective date of these benefits.
Employees are responsible for notifying their supervisor of the impending jury duty or court appearance immediately upon receipt of notice to serve. A copy of the summons for this service must be shown to the supervisor and then be filed with the Human Resources Department.
When service on jury duty or a court appearance would cause a hardship to the operation of the University, the Director of Human Resources (at his/her discretion) may petition the judge in writing asking for excuse from duty. In the event the request is denied or no response is received before the date of service, the employee must report to court for jury duty or court appearance.