Brazil's runoff on Sunday: what HR must do for employees on duty

Brazilian voters return to the polls on Sunday, October 25, 2026, for the runoff (segundo turno): there is a presidential vote nationwide and, in some states and the Federal District, a vote for governor. Under the electoral calendar of the TSE (Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court), polling stations are open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Brasília time. In Brazil, voting is compulsory for literate citizens aged 18 to 70, and those who do not vote must justify their absence or pay a fine. Many of them will be on duty that Sunday at security and reception posts, in cleaning and facilities teams, in hospitals and in retail, and each one needs time to vote without leaving a post uncovered.

What the law guarantees to people working on election day

TSE Resolution nº 23.759/2026, which consolidates the rules on voter participation, guarantees anyone who has to work on election day the right to be absent for as long as it takes to vote (art. 60). The basis is article 234 of Brazil's Electoral Code: no one may prevent or hinder voting, and doing so is a crime punishable by up to six months of detention and a fine (art. 297).

There is no fixed number of hours: the time must cover travel, the line at the polling place and the trip back to work. According to the booklet on electoral harassment published in 2026 by the MPT (Ministério Público do Trabalho, Brazil's Labor Prosecution Service), employers also may not deduct the time away from wages or require employees to make up the hours used to vote, and the guarantee also covers those who live and vote in another city.

Who works on Sunday: what applies in each case

Situation	What applies	Basis
Works on Sunday	Leaves for the time needed to vote, with no pay deduction or make-up hours	TSE Res. 23.759/2026 and MPT
Votes in another city	Same guarantee, with more travel time	MPT
Is away from their electoral domicile (the municipality where they are registered to vote)	May justify the absence on the day, in the official e-Título app or at a polling place	TSE Res. 23.759/2026
Neither voted nor justified on Sunday	May justify the absence by January 8, 2027	TSE Res. 23.759/2026
Was called up as a poll worker	Excused from work, with two days off per day of service	Lei nº 9.504/1997
Works in retail	Stores may open if they give employees real conditions to vote	TSE Res. 23.760/2026

How to build the Sunday schedule

Start with a map of who works on Sunday, by post, shift and client. A 12x36 day shift (12 hours on, 36 off) from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., for example, covers the entire voting window, while someone leaving a night shift at 7 a.m. can vote after work.

Ask each employee how much time they need and which window they prefer, without asking for their polling section number: the MPT booklet lists that demand among the forms of electoral harassment. Then set up the rotation:

• Staggered windows: spread departures throughout the day, including in hospitals and other operations that never stop.
• Relief: at single-person posts, such as reception desks, a relief worker, floater or supervisor covers the absence.
• Objective criteria: order departures by travel time and shift. For the MPT, building the schedule around political alignment is electoral harassment.
• Lines: anyone in line at 5 p.m. receives a numbered ticket and votes (TSE Res. 23.759/2026, art. 29), but avoid leaving departures for late afternoon.
• Time zones: Brasília time applies nationwide. According to the Regional Electoral Court of Pernambuco (TRE-PE), in Rondônia, Mato Grosso, Mato Grosso do Sul, Roraima and most of Amazonas, voting starts at 7 a.m. local time; where Acre time applies, at 6 a.m.

Also ask everyone to check their polling place in e-Título: the TSE asked the regional electoral courts to widely publicize any changes for the runoff.

Time tracking: how to record the time away to vote

Decide before Sunday how the absence will be recorded: the employee clocks out and back in, and payroll marks the interval as a paid excused absence with a standard note, such as "left to vote"; or the employee does not clock out, and the period counts as working time. In no case can the time become an absence, a late arrival, a pay deduction or a debit in the hour bank (banco de horas, Brazil's time-off-in-lieu system), even if the line delays the return. And do not ask for a photo of the vote: the MPT lists that demand as harassment, and phones are banned in the voting booth. Time records follow the rules of Portaria 671, Brazil's time-tracking regulation.

With a system such as TIRVU+, coverage and substitutions sit in the schedule itself, the time clock records departure and return with facial recognition and geolocation, and the notice with Sunday's rules reaches each employee through the employee portal. The client follows the coverage of each post through the client portal.

Poll workers on the team

Employees called up by the Electoral Court as poll workers (mesários) or logistics support are excused from work on the days they serve, including in-person or live online training. Each day of service with actual participation entitles them to two days off, with no loss of pay (Lei nº 9.504/1997, art. 98; TSE Res. 23.759/2026, art. 84), and completing the training counts as one day. In Paraná, the Regional Electoral Court (TRE-PR) noted that those who served in the first round are automatically called up for the runoff.

• Document: proof is the Declaração de Trabalhos Eleitorais (DTE, the electoral service statement), issued on the TSE website, in e-Título or by the electoral judge, showing the days worked and the total days off.
• Dates: days off are agreed between the parties, together or separately, but never on days the person would not be working anyway (TRE-PR).
• Shifts and 12x36: the day off is adjusted to the employee's working hours, and the schedule's rest days do not count. Days off cannot be converted into money and, without agreement, the electoral judge decides (TSE Resolution nº 22.747/2008).
• Recording: keep the DTE in the employee's file and enter the days off in the schedule as paid excused days, separate from regular days off and the hour bank.

Is election Sunday a public holiday?

Readings differ. Article 380 of the Electoral Code makes election day a national holiday when the date is set by the Federal Constitution, and the Constitution sets the runoff for the last Sunday of October. However, Lei nº 662/1949, as amended by Lei nº 10.607/2002, lists the national holidays without election day.

The TST (Tribunal Superior do Trabalho, Brazil's Superior Labor Court) has ruled both ways. In a decision reported in 2013, its 8th Panel held that election day is not a national holiday and denied double pay. More recently, according to an article on the legal news site Migalhas, its 3rd Panel upheld an order for a supermarket chain in Fortaleza to pay double for uncompensated work on the 2022 election days, also based on the sector's collective bargaining agreement.

So follow what the collective bargaining agreement says. As a general rule, work on a public holiday is paid double or offset by a day off on another date (Lei nº 605/1949, art. 9). For 12x36 schedules, the CLT (Brazil's Consolidated Labor Laws) treats holidays as already compensated in the monthly pay (art. 59-A), but check what the collective agreement says.

What not to do: electoral harassment

A 2026 amendment to the TSE resolution on campaign advertising expressly bans electoral advertising and electoral harassment in public and private workplaces (Res. 23.610/2019, art. 19, § 2-A). In September, the MPT in the Federal District reported that 5 of the 13 complaints received until then involved security, cleaning, engineering or other outsourced service companies. According to the MPT booklet, the following may constitute electoral harassment:

• promising benefits or threatening dismissal or losses depending on the result;
• imposing campaign clothing or gathering the team to present candidates;
• running polls about the election, even anonymous ones;
• requiring employees to disclose their polling section or film their vote, or withholding their documents;
• manipulating the schedule according to political alignment or not releasing employees to vote.

A single act may be enough, and pressure can also come from clients and contracting companies, which calls for attention with teams placed at third-party sites. Offering an advantage in exchange for a vote is a crime (Electoral Code, art. 299), as is coercing someone through violence or serious threat (art. 301). Complaints can be filed with the MPT at mpt.mp.br/assedio-eleitoral, with a request for confidentiality. Inside the company, an anonymous whistleblowing channel, such as the one in TIRVU+, helps receive reports confidentially.

What employees need to know

• You can leave for the time needed to vote, with no pay deduction and no make-up hours.
• Check your polling place in e-Título and bring e-Título or an official photo ID. The digital work booklet (carteira de trabalho digital) is not accepted at the polling station.
• If you are outside the city where you vote, justify your absence in e-Título on Sunday or by January 8, 2027.
• Pressure on your vote can be reported to the MPT, confidentially.

What to do by Saturday

• List who works on Sunday, by post, shift and client
• Ask each employee how much time they need, without asking for their section or preference
• Build the rotation with time windows and relief at every post
• Define how time away will be recorded and excused in time tracking
• Collect poll workers' DTEs and schedule their days off on working days
• Check the collective agreement's rules for election day
• Send the notice to the team and brief supervisors and clients

Frequently asked questions

Can the company deduct the time used to vote?

No. TSE Resolution nº 23.759/2026 guarantees time off for as long as it takes to vote, and the MPT considers deducting pay or requiring make-up hours irregular.

Can someone working on Sunday justify the absence instead of voting?

Only those outside their electoral domicile. Justifications submitted on the day in the municipality where the person votes are not processed, so anyone in their own city must be released to vote.

Can poll workers take their days off whenever the company wants?

No. The dates are agreed between the parties, fall on working days and cannot be exchanged for money. Without agreement, the electoral judge decides.

Conclusion

The runoff calls for three decisions by Saturday: who leaves, at what time and who covers the post. With objective criteria, accurate time records, poll workers' days off entered and no political pressure, operations get through Sunday without undue absences or uncovered posts. To show clients that every post stayed covered, see how a client portal works in outsourcing.

Want to organize Sunday's schedules, coverage and time tracking without spreadsheets? Talk to the Tirvu team and see TIRVU+ working in your own operation.

Sources

• TSE: 2026 Electoral Calendar, Resolution nº 23.760 (Mar 2, 2026)
• TSE: voter participation rules, Resolution nº 23.759 (Mar 2, 2026)
• TRE-PR: double days off for poll workers (Mar 10, 2026)
• MPT: Electoral Harassment booklet, 2nd edition (2026)
• MPT-DF: outsourced workers account for most electoral harassment complaints (Sep 8, 2026)
• TST: election day is not a holiday, 8th Panel (Dec 16, 2013)
• Migalhas: should election day be considered a holiday? (Oct 2, 2026)

This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace specialized legal advice.