Work provides up to four paid hours to vote on November 29

The General Directorate of Labor of the Community of Madrid has established up to four hours of paid leave for employees who must work on Sunday, November 29, 2026, the day of the elections for the Congress of Deputies and the Senate. The resolution, signed on October 13 by the general director Silvia Marina Parra Rudilla, is published in the OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID number 264, dated November 3, 2026 (BOCM-20261103-42), and enters into force on the day of its publication. The measure applies to all companies and entities in the region whose staff do not enjoy their weekly rest on that date.

The framework for the decision is Article 13 of Royal Decree 605/1999, of April 16, on the complementary regulation of electoral processes, which requires autonomous communities with labor competencies to adopt the necessary measures so that voters have, within their working hours, up to four hours of paid free time to vote. The resolution is issued following an agreement with the Government Delegation in the Community of Madrid and under the competencies of the General Directorate of Labor regarding working days and schedules, in accordance with Decree 230/2023, of September 6, on the organic structure of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Employment, and Royal Decree 932/1995, of June 9, on the transfer of functions in labor matters.

The calling of the elections was carried out through Royal Decree 806/2026, of October 5, for the dissolution of the Congress of Deputies and the Senate and the calling of elections. The regional regulation now specifies how the leave is applied in Madrid’s workplaces, with homogeneous criteria for the entire regional territory.

Four brackets based on hourly overlap

The leave is calculated by comparing the working hours with the opening hours of the polling stations:

• Overlap of less than two hours, or none: no right to paid leave.
• Overlap of two to less than four hours: two hours of leave.
• Overlap of four to less than six hours: three hours of leave.
• Overlap of six or more hours: four hours of leave.

It is the employer’s responsibility to distribute, based on the organization of work, the period during which employees may go to vote.

Mail-in voting and part-time schedules

Those who must work on November 29 far from their usual residence, or under conditions that hinder voting, have the right to substitute that leave for another of an identical nature intended to personally request the certification proving registration in the census—as provided for in Article 72 of Organic Law 5/1985, of June 19, on the General Electoral Regime—and to send the vote by mail. The duration is calculated using the same brackets, referred in this case to the opening hours of the Post Offices.

In part-time contracts with a working day shorter than the usual one in the activity, the leave is reduced in proportion to the relationship between the hours worked and those of a full-time worker in the same company.

Polling stations, scrutineers and proxies

The text establishes a specific regime for those participating in the organization of the electoral day:

• Presidents, Members, and Scrutineers of the polling station: paid leave during the entire working day of the voting day, if they do not have the day off, and five hours on the immediately following working day.
• Proxies: leave only for the working day corresponding to the voting day.
• Night shift workers on the eve of the elections: the company must change their shift at the request of the interested party, so that they can rest the previous night.

Without reduction in pay

Pursuant to Article 37.3.d) of the Workers’ Statute, the reductions in working hours derived from these leaves do not entail a reduction in the remuneration that the workers were receiving for all concepts. Proper justification shall be the presentation of the voting certification or, where appropriate, accreditation from the corresponding polling station.

The resolution homogenizes in the Community of Madrid the criterion that until now each company could interpret with greater leeway, and it does so with an objective bracket rule that reduces litigation. For the staff working on 11/29, the text converts into an enforceable right a leave that the state regulation already recognized, while for companies it precisely fixes the organizational burden: they must redistribute shifts, document the hourly coincidence, and pay for the time not worked without any deduction.

Source: OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE COMMUNITY OF MADRID, no. 264, of November 3, 2026, section I.C “Other Provisions”, pp. 276-277 (official reference: BOCM-20261103-42).