Sisters, Brothers, and Friends,

This memo outlines the right of workers to time to vote during the upcoming municipal elections. You are encouraged to share this memo with leadership of locals in your assignment as it speaks to the rights of their members to ensure that they are able to exercise their right to vote.

The Municipal Elections Act provides, in section 50, that employees who are eligible to vote in municipal election are entitled to three consecutive hours free from work on voting day (October 24 this year) and are entitled to be absent from work for enough time, up to three hours, as is required for them to exercise that right.

This right isn’t unlimited, because the absence from work must be timed so as to suit the employer’s convenience to the greatest extent possible. This means that where an employee’s working hours already provide them with three hours in a row free from work while the polls are open, the employee is not entitled to additional time away from work.

For example, in Toronto the polls will be open from 10am to 8pm on October 24. If an employee is scheduled to work from 10pm to 6pm, that employee would be entitled to leave work an hour early, that is at 5pm to ensure that they have three consecutive hours free of work to be able to vote. However, if an employee is scheduled to work from 9am to 5pm, that employee will already have three consecutive hours free (from 5pm to 8pm) and thus would not be entitled to leave work early.

This right doesn’t necessarily mean leaving work early. If an employee works from 12pm to 8pm on voting day, the least time away from work would be required by arriving at work one hour late rather than leaving work three hours early.

Importantly, if an employee’s schedule is such that they need to take time off from work to be able to vote, employees are entitled to be paid for that time off and should not suffer any “other penalty” as a result of the absence.

As a best practice, if an employee knows their schedule for voting day, and knows that they will need either to arrive late or to leave early, to ensure that their employer is aware that this time will be needed and taken. This helps to avoid conflict on the day itself and provides an opportunity to resolve any dispute in advance.

Devon Paul, Legal & Legislative Representative