Members of councils to be allowed time off from work to attend to council duties

(1) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, where a member of a village or community council is in employment, it shall be the duty of the employer to give such member reasonable time off from work without loss of salary or other benefits to enable such member to attend to council duties. (2) A dispute between an employer and an employee who is a member of a council as to whether any time off granted from work pursuant to subsection (1) of this subsection above is reasonable or not shall be referred to the Minister, whose decision thereon shall be final and binding on both parties. (3) Failure to comply with the requirements of subsection (1) or sub-section (2) of this section constitutes an offence punishable on summary conviction with a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or with imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months or with both such fine and period of imprisonment.