White Castle to close Tuesday a.m. for election
White Castle fans hoping to start Tuesday with a breakfast slider will have to slide on by.
All restaurants in the Columbusbased fast-food chain will be closed from 7 to 11 a.m. Tuesday so White Castle’s 10,000 workers are given paid time off to head to the polls.
In a year of extraordinary political engagement, companies across the nation and central Ohio are taking unusual steps to accommodate workers this election, from helping with absentee voting to giving workers time off, like White Castle.
“We have decided to start a new tradition,” said White Castle CEO and President Lisa Ingram. “Starting this year and going forward, White Castle will give team members time to exercise their right to vote in presidential elections. We believe voting is a right of responsible citizenship, and we want all our team members to have that opportunity.”
White Castle officials said the year’s unprecedented events prompted the decision.
“This year has been unlike any other year,” said company spokesperson Jamie Richardson. “We think pressing pause, given the year of pandemic, and giving people the chance to fully participate, is the right thing to do.”
The Near East Side marketing and branding firm Ologie is going one step further by giving its 50employees the day off.
The decision stemmed from conversations management and employees had in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, said Sarah Cygan, chief experience officer.
They created a social justice committee to figure out ways to work toward an anti-racist workplace for employees, clients and the larger central Ohio community, she said.
“Part of that promise is giving them the opportunity to choose civic leaders who promote anti-racism in their leadership and policies and to give them the space to do it,” Cygan said. “How can we
give them the space to do that? Give them the day off.”
Even if employees voted by mail or early, she said making Election Day a paid holiday encourages them to use the day for self-reflection or education, volunteer at polling places or simply have a mental health day after such a stressful election cycle and year.
As Cygan’s comments suggest, politics and the election have been in the forefront of the nation this year, prompting employers coast to coast to get more involved in the process than ever before.
More than 1,000 companies have joined the national organization Time To Vote, pledging to “giving employees the time and the tools they need to exercise their right to vote in the November general election.”
Companies with a central Ohio presence to join include Abercrombie & Fitch,
Abbott, Alliance Data Systems, Ascena, Bark (Barkbox), Eddie Bauer, Jpmorgan Chase, L Brands, Macys, Rosati Windows and J.M. Smucker.
A similar effort, called ElectionDay.org, has enlisted about 900 companies, including Apple, Cisco, Ford, General Motors, Levi Strauss and Sony, committed to “vote-friendly policies.”
Jpmorgan Chase, central Ohio’s largest private employer, gives workers four hours of paid time off to vote if they can’t vote before or after work.
“We know the opportunity to vote is very personal to millions of Americans — and this underscores the important role you can play in helping to determine who will represent you at the local, state and federal government level,” Jamie Dimon, Jpmorgan’s chairman and CEO, told the bank’s employees in a memo.
The Columbus insurance company Nationwide will provide time off to workers if they can’t vote during polling hours because of their schedule. Fellow insurer State Auto Financial has a program that gives associates as much time off as they need when they need it, and that includes Election Day voting.
Ohio State University, assuming an employee’s manager agrees to it, is allowing its workers to take Tuesday off paid if they’re an election volunteer.
“In response to concerns from boards of elections about ensuring that a sufficient number of people are available to serve as poll workers, Ohio State is permitting university employees to serve as poll workers during work hours on November 3,” the university said.
Scotts Miracle-gro has a similar policy. The Marysville-based company allows workers to take two paid days off a year for community service as part of its Give Back to Gro program.
“This year, we’re allowing people to use their Give Back to Gro days to be a poll worker or help with Get Out the Vote efforts (as long as they are nonpartisan and not affiliated with a particular issue),” said spokesperson Tom Matthews.
As an assembly line operation, Honda can’t simply stop the lines to allow people to vote. The company did, however, launch the Honda Election Center in September to help workers with the process.
“Associates who use the non-partisan Honda Election Center can register to vote, find information on early and absentee voting and see an impartial list of candidates running for state and federal offices based on their address,” said spokesperson Stephanie Gostomski.
Like Honda, other employers lack the luxury of allowing workers to take time off to cast their ballots. Hospitals, for example, must be staffed constantly with doctors and other health-care workers.
“As a system of hospitals that operate 24/7, 365 days per year, we are not able to provide associates with time off to vote,” said Colin Yoder, a senior manager of media relations for the Ohiohealth hospital system.
Instead, Ohiohealth encourages employees to take advantage of options like early voting, he said.
Dispatch reporters Mark Williams, Patrick Cooley and Allison Ward contributed to this report.