Employers' Obligations On Election Day
Summary of employers' obligations to provide employees with an opportunity to vote during the upcoming Municipal Election:
The Municipal Elections Act, 1996 sets out the obligations of employers to allow employees to be absent from work for as long as is necessary to allow the employee to have three consecutive hours to vote on voting day.
Section 50 of the Act reads as follows:
ELECTOR'S ABSENCE FROM WORK
- An elector whose hours of employment are such that he or she would not otherwise have three consecutive hours to vote on voting day is entitled to be absent from work for as long as is necessary to allow that amount of time.
EMPLOYER'S CONVENIENCE
- The absence shall be timed to suit the employer's convenience as much as possible.
NO DEDUCTION OR PENALTY
- The employer shall not make a deduction from the employee's pay or impose any other penalty for the absence from work.
Final voting day is November 13, 2006 from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. If an employee has three consecutive hours to vote when they are not working within those polling hours, Section 50 does not require the employer to provide time off. For example, if an employee works from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., they have four consecutive hours to vote between 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and the employer does not have to provide time off with pay.
On the other hand, if an employee works from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., the employee will not have three consecutive hours to vote either before or after they start work and the employer will have to grant one hour of paid time off either before or after the employee starts work. Section 50 sets out that the absence shall be timed to suit the employer's convenience as much as possible.
THE ACT PROVIDES THAT:
94. A person who contravenes a provision of this Act is guilty of an offence and, if no other penalty is provided, is liable, on conviction, to a fine of not more than $5,000.
Please note that the foregoing information on an employer's obligation is for information purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.