Election Day: What employers need to know in Mississauga, Brampton and the rest of Ontario

If you’re an employer in Ontario, you have to allow all employees a minimum three-hour voting window to get to the polls today (October 24), which are open from 10 am to 8 pm.

Under the Municipal Elections Act, 1996, all employees eligible to vote are entitled to three consecutive hours while polls are open on election day to cast their votes.

In some circumstances, this may require employers to offer paid time off. Employees cannot suffer a penalty for missing time from work to vote if their employer is required to grant it under the Act.

Employees who are not paid hourly but e.g. for piece-work must be paid what they would have earned in the time off that is granted.

If an employee’s regular or scheduled hours of work already allow them three consecutive hours to vote between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., they are not entitled to paid time off, and the employer does not need to take any additional action. For example, an employee who works 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. has three hours between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. to vote. Their employer does not need to offer any paid time off.

If an employee’s hours of work prevent them from obtaining three consecutive hours to vote between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., they are entitled to be absent from work with pay for as long as they need to gain three consecutive hours in that window.

The time off should be as convenient as possible for the employer; the employer must only ensure that three consecutive hours are available between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. These three consecutive hours can include time that the employee would not be at work anyway.

For example, an employee who works from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. does not have three consecutive hours to vote. The employer could allow the employee to come in at 1 p.m. or leave at 5 p.m., giving them three hours in either the morning or the evening (two hours off work, plus one hour in which the employee is not scheduled to work).

These two hours off would be paid. The employer may choose between the morning or the afternoon option and is not obliged to grant the employee’s preference.