It’s Election Day for our northern neighbors. And that means that all Canadian employers must ensure that their employees have three consecutive hours free from work, in which the polls are open to vote, according to Donovan Plomp of McCarthy Tétrault. The polls have different hours depending on the time zone. For example, in the Eastern time zone, people can vote from 9:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. But in the Pacific time zone, it’s shifted from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. And Mountain time citizens can vote from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
“It is important to recognize that employees are not entitled to a three-hour break from work,” explains Plomp. “It is only if an employee does not have three consecutive hours off already that an employer must accommodate them.” He also says that the scheduling of the employee’s time off to vote must be at the employer’s convenience.
