ELECTION DAY

Taranaki Daily News, 6 December 1922, Page 4

ELECTION DAY

TIME OFF FOR VOTING. PROVISIONS OF THE ACT. To-morrow being eleetion day, the following extracts from the Act in connection with time off being allowed workers in order to enable them to record their votes are of interest:— Where the polling-day at any election is other than that appointed as the weekly half-holiday under “The Shops and Offices Act, 1908,” the provisions of that Act relating to the weekly halfholiday shall be deemed to refer to the polling-day in lieu of the day so appointed, and it shall not be necessary for any employer to observe the day so appointed in the week in which the polling-day falls. It shall not be necessary for any factory to close during any working-hours on the polling-day, but the occupier of the factory shall afford to each of his employees a reasonable opportunity of recording his vote and no deduction shall be made from the wages of any such employee in respect to the time occupied in so recording his vote, provided that such time does not exceed one working-hour. Every occupier of a factory who commits a breach of the last preceding subsection is liable to a fine not exceeding five pounds in respect of every employee. It will be noted that as the pollingday falls to-morrow (Thursday), it Will be sufficient compliance with the provisions of the Shops and Offices Act regarding the weekly half-holiday if, where the usual half-holiday is not already Thursday, the shops are closed on the polling-day in lieu of the usual day. Factory' occupiers are required merely to give their employees reasonable time to record their votes, but not exceeding one working hour, without deduction from their wages. The ‘above provisions do not, however, override the provisions of any award or industrial agreement. All workers governed by awards or agreements, who are not employed in factories or shops, are therefore not affected by the above provisions of the Legislature Act.