Trump administration begins cracking down on federal employees' use of leave for voting

With some key primary elections at the state level occurring in the coming weeks, the Trump administration has begun notifying employees they can no longer use paid administrative leave to vote. 

The reminder, so far sent out at least to various agencies within the Agriculture Department, complies with an executive order President Trump signed on his first day in office. That order revoked a bevy of previously issued presidential actions, including an order President Biden signed early in his term to allow the leave category for federal employees looking to vote. 

In March, Trump signed another executive order calling on agency heads to “cease all agency actions implementing” Biden’s order and, within 90 days, lay out what steps they have taken to implement the new directive. 

“Effective immediately, Forest Service employees are not authorized to use administrative leave to vote or participate in voting related activities,” said a message received by employees and obtained by Government Executive. 

Other USDA employees reported being told verbally they could no longer use that form of paid time off for voting. The Interior Department has apparently removed implementation guidance on the leave-for-voting policy from its website. 

The Forest Service told employees they are still allowed to request taking their own personal vacation time for voting purposes. 

The Office of Personnel Management in 2022 began requiring agencies to provide federal employees up to four hours of administrative leave to vote in federal, state, local, tribal and territorial elections, which was available for use both on Election Day and during early voting. Additionally, agencies had to provide an additional four hours of paid leave to employees who serve as election judges or observers.

The time off was “subject to a determination by the agency that the employee can be relieved of duty during the specific period of time requested by the employee without significantly impairing mission-essential operations,” OPM said at the time.

In 2022, federal workers employed by several agencies reported difficulty in getting their employers to honor the policy. Ahead of the 2024 election, however, then-acting OPM Director Rob Shriver issued a memorandum reminding agency heads of the new voting leave rules.

Primary elections for the state legislatures and governors in New Jersey and Virginia will be held next month.