A provincial election is scheduled to take place in British
Columbia on May 14th 2013. Employers in the province should be
mindful of their obligation to ensure that employees are afforded
sufficient time off from work to cast their ballots.
The British Columbia Election Act entitles persons to
four consecutive hours - between the hours of 8:00 am and 8:00 pm -
to exercise their voting rights on election day.
What does this mean for employers?
It is important to note that this entitlement does not require
an employer to provide all their employees with four hours off
work. It is only in situations where an employee's schedule
does not allow for four consecutive hours free from work that a
modification to the work schedule is required. For example,
employees who are not scheduled to commence work until 12:00 pm (or
later) and employees who are scheduled to finish work at 4:00 pm
(or earlier) will not require any time off to vote.
