Time off for Voting

The Election Act requires employers to provide employees with time off to vote, as follows:

• Electors should have three consecutive, non-work hours to vote during one of the days of advance voting or on Election Day.
• If an elector’s work schedule does not allow for the three consecutive hours, the employer must provide extra time off. The employer retains the right to determine when to give the employee time off, whether it is on any of the days of advance voting or on Election Day.
• When the extra hours are provided by the employer, the time given must be paid, and no penalty may be imposed on the employee for taking time off to vote.
• The extra time off is for voting purposes only.

Electors may also vote by special ballot if they cannot vote at an advance voting location or Election Day voting location in their electoral division during voting hours.

NOTE: Electors who have already voted are not eligible for extra time off on an advance voting day or on Election Day.

Examples

Example 1:
An elector works all 5 days of advance voting and must work between 9:00am and 5:00pm on Election Day. Because the employee has three consecutive hours outside of their work hours – between 5:00pm and 8:00pm – to vote, the employer does not need to provide extra time off for voting.

Example 2:
An elector works all 5 days of advance voting and on Election Day between 10:00am and 6:00pm. The elector does not have three consecutive non-work hours for voting on any voting day. The employer could provide either two hours off in the morning (from 9:00am to 11:00am) or one hour in the evening (from 5:00pm to 6:00pm) on any of the voting days. In this example, the employer retains the right as to which day and time to give the employee extra time off.
NOTE: The employer may determine days and times based on what impacts their operation the least.