The Patent and Trademark Office encourages
all of its employees to vote on November 7, 2000. You may be excused
for a reasonable amount of time, when practicable to do so without
unduly interfering with operations, to vote in the upcoming election.
In general, when the polls are not open at least three hours before
or after your regular tour of duty, you may be granted an
amount of excused absence which will permit you to report for work up
to three hours after the polls are open or leave work up to three
hours before the polls closed, whichever requires less excused
absence.
For Virginia residents the polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00
p.m., and for Maryland and the District of Columbia residents the
polls are open form 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
If your voting location is beyond normal commuting distances and
vote by absentee ballot is not permitted, you may be granted
sufficient time off to cast your ballot. In a case that requires more
than one day, you may request annual leave, accrued compensatory leave
or leave without pay.
Since local polling places are opened for extended periods of time,
excused absences should be rarely needed. With PTO’s expanded
flexible hours and the Increased Flexitime Policy, many employees have
the flexibility of scheduling their workday around their poll hours
and should not need administrative leave. If you have any questions
please call the Employee Relations Division at 305-8121.
