Poloidal modulation of the parallel velocity of charged particles in a tokamak magnetic field modifies the strength of electron absorption of the compressional wave in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies. We have developed a model of this effect which is sufficiently simple to be numerically tractable, and we have implemented it in TORIC full-wave code, which solves the wave equation in toroidal axisymmetric geometry. We find that the effect is normally negligible in present-day devices, but its importance increases with the dimensions and the temperature of the plasma, and should be taken into account when estimating the competition between electron and ion heating and the efficiency of the current drive in future reactor-grade plasmas.