Encourage workers to go to vote

WITH polling day for the 14th General Election set for Wednesday, voters who have to work will have to take a break if they want to cast their vote.

It is very important for employers to allow their employees reasonable time off for this purpose.

For employers, it is not only their moral but also their legal duty to permit their employees to exercise their right to take part in the country’s democratic process.

This is clearly stated in Section 25(1) of the Election Offences Act 1954 (Act 5): “Every employer shall, on polling day, allow to every elector in his employ a reasonable period for voting, and no employer shall make any deduction from the pay or other remuneration of any such elector or impose upon or exact from him any penalty by reason of his absence during such period.”

There is no precise definition for “reasonable period” but it would take into account factors like the distance between the workplace of the said employee and the polling station, availability of transport and the number of voters in the constituency concerned.

Failure of employers to grant time off for their workers to vote can be regarded as a serious offence.

Section 25(3) of the Election Offences Act 1954 states that any employer who, directly or indirectly, refuses, or by intimidation, undue influence, or in any other manner, interferes with the granting to any elector in his employ, of a reasonable period for voting, as in this section provided, shall on summary conviction be liable to a fine of five thousand ringgit or to imprisonment for one year.

Employers also should exercise their duty by advising and encouraging their employees to go and cast their votes.