Are Employees Entitled to Time Off Work to Vote in the Federal Election? Pt. II |Malcolm MacKillop

MALCOLM MACKILLOP

Are Your Employees Entitled to Time Off Work to Vote in the Upcoming Federal Election?

Part II

No Reduction of Pay or Penalty for Taking Time Off Work to Vote PER THE CANADA ELECTIONS ACT,

an employer cannot reduce an employee’s pay or impose a penalty for taking the allowable time off work to vote. The employer must pay the employee the amount the employee would have earned on election day had the employee continued to work during the time they were off work to vote. Moreover, it is an offence for an employer to interfere with granting employees time off work for voting, whether by intimidation, undue influence, or other means.

Penalties for employers who violate the Act include significant fines and/or imprisonment.

EXCEPTIONS Please note that certain employees of transportation companies (i.e. companies that transport goods or passengers by land, air or water) are exempt from the entitlement to consecutive time off work for voting if the additional time cannot be allowed without interfering with the transportation service. For more information on this exemption, please refer to section 132(3) of the Act.

Application of the Time Off for Voting Requirements To illustrate how the Act applies, consider the following scenarios.

SCENARIO 1 - AMIR Work Location: Toronto Regular Hours of Work: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Voting Hours: 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m.

In this scenario, Amir is not entitled to any time off work to vote because he has at least three consecutive hours outside of work to vote (i.e. from 5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.).

SCENARIO 2 - HANA Work Location: Halifax Regular Hours of Work: 11:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Voting Hours: 8:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.

In this scenario, Hana does not have three consecutive hours outside of work to vote.

SCENARIO 2 (HANA), CONTIND.

To comply with the Act, Hana’s employer has several options for ensuring she has enough time off work to vote, namely: allowing her to start work later (i.e. at 11:30 a.m.); allowing her to leave work early (i.e. at 5:30 pm); or, allowing her to take three consecutive hours off at some point during her shift.

Regardless of which option is chosen, Hana must be paid at least the amount she would have earned on election day had she continued to work during the permitted time off work to vote. Therefore, if Hana started work half an hour late on election day (i.e. at 11:30 a.m.) in order to vote, she must be paid for the day as if she had worked during that half hour period (i.e. from 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.).

OTHER ELECTIONS The Act sets out the requirements for federal elections.

Each province has its own laws setting out voting requirements for provincial/municipal elections.

TAKEAWAYS Review the voting hours in your area and your work schedules for October 21, 2019 to ensure your employees have enough time off work to vote in the upcoming federal election.

Thank You for Reading The foregoing is for informational purposes only and should in no way be relied upon as legal advice.

For legal advice tailored to your circumstances and business, please contact any of SOM LLP’s lawyer’s by email or telephone.

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