Publication
Greece
The applicable legislation establishing a national screening mechanism for foreign direct investments (FDI) and implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/452 in Greece is Law 5202/2025, which was adopted on 22 May 2025 (Greek FDI Law).
Employees may be entitled to time off to vote in Toronto’s mayoral
by-election
Author:
Canada | Publication | June 20, 2023
On June 26, Toronto will vote for its new mayor in a municipal by-election. Polling stations will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day. Pursuant to Ontario’s Municipal Elections Act, employees who are eligible voters may be entitled to time off work to vote.
Eligible voters. An eligible voter is any Canadian citizen who is over 18 years of age, is not prohibited from voting under any law, and fulfills the necessary City of Toronto residency requirements.
The three-hour rule. Employees who are eligible voters are entitled to three consecutive hours free from work to vote while polling stations are open. Employers must facilitate this time off, but may schedule the absence to suit their convenience. For example:
- If the employee’s hours of work are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. the employer is not required to provide any time off because the employee has three consecutive hours free from work to vote between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
- If the employee’s hours of work are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. the employee does not have three consecutive hours free from work to vote. The employer might:
- Permit the employee to leave work an hour early, allowing the employee three consecutive hours free from work to vote between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
- Permit the employee to start work at 1 p.m., allowing the employee three consecutive hours free from work to vote between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.
- Give the employee any other three consecutive hours free from work at any point during the employee’s shift on voting day.
No pay deduction or penalties. Time off for voting must be provided without any deduction to an employee’s pay or any other penalty. In other words, employees must receive the same wages they would have received had they worked their full scheduled hours.
Penalty for non-compliance. Employers who fail to comply with the Municipal Elections Act may face fines of up to $50,000.
The author would like to thank Rose Ghaedi, law student, for her help in preparing this legal update.
Recent publications
Publication
UK Government’s Department for Transport publishes Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy
The UK Government’s Department for Transport (the DfT) has published its Maritime Decarbonisation Strategy, setting out its plan for decarbonising maritime and new decarbonisation goals for the UK domestic maritime sector.
Publication
Privy Council confirms burden of proof regarding duty to achieve best price reasonably obtainable rests with the mortgagor
On 29 May 2025, in Finlayson v Caterpillar Financial Services Corp [2025] UKPC 24 (The Bahamas), the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (the Privy Council) heard the appeal of Mr Garet O Finlayson and Mr Mark Finlayson (the Appellants) following the Supreme Court of the Bahamas and the Court of Appeal of the Bahamas finding in favour of the respondent, Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation (the Respondent).
Subscribe and stay up to date with the latest legal news, information and events . . .