John Nesbitt is an accounting clerk, employed by the municipality of Uptown, Ont

Question

John Nesbitt is an accounting clerk, employed by the municipality of Uptown, Ontario, in the town’s financial services department. Like all municipalities, the town has an elected group of councillors and a mayor, who meet to set policy and enact bylaws under the authority of the Ontario Municipal Act. The town employs a large group of employees, from those who work out of doors maintaining streets and roads, to those who work in the town hall itself, serving the public and managing the complex business affairs of the municipality.

Following a recent election, the newly elected mayor and councillors embarked on a plan that, in their view, will improve the organizational culture of the staff and managers employed by the town. Two new by-laws are passed:

By-law #1 makes it a requirement that all full-time, permanent employees of the municipality are required to reside within town limits. The motive for this bylaw is to demonstrate that the town is a good place to live, and employees who earn a living working for the town should be expected to live in the town.

By-law #2 states that no full-time, permanent employee of the town is permitted to publicly criticize the decisions of the town council.

John Nesbitt lives with his family on an acreage some kilometres outside of the town limits. He is a full-time, permanent employee who has worked for Uptown for more than seven years, and he has no desire to move his residence or to seek new employment. Nesbitt writes a letter to the editor of the local newspaper; the letter is published, and is critical of the new residency requirement bylaw. Nesbitt’s supervisor advises him that he should write a letter of retraction to the newspaper, and asks what his intentions are regarding his future employment with the town. Nesbitt seeks legal counsel from a lawyer who believes that court action against the municipality, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, is warranted.

Explain why the Charter applies to the by-laws.

Identify the specific Charter rights or freedoms that the by-laws may have infringed.

Apply section 1 of the Charter to determine the validity of each by-law.

For each question, apply the 3-step legal analysis.

Explanation / Answer

The charter applies to the by-laws because the by law 1 would only in favour of the employees who lives in the town area but for for the employees people who are working for the town long years back. This by law states that the employees who belongs to the town area would be located within the town itself other has been located to places which are not in town. This is a unfair justice to the employees who have the settled life and working for the town long. It would effect the life and the pratices of the employees. Because of this reason the charter applies to this laws.

The special charter rights and freedom that the by least has been infringed is: The laws are subjected to be in limit which is justifiable in free and democratic society.

Section 1 of the charter defines the limit of the law implemented by authority of The town. It confined the the restiction possed on the employees who are working in the town. The freedom of the employee has been voilated as the law was posted on them. The evidence to this was by the case as one of the employee who was not lived in the town but nearby area was affected by this law. He was working for long years in the town.

The three steps legal analysis done as

Step1. Find out the fact - the fact was by law was imposed on the employees of the town. It restrict the employees freedom to one place as well as freedom of work.

Step2. Look for the evidence - The evidence was that the employee itself gave in the newspaper regarding the event happened. He was unsatisfied with this by law.

Step3- analyse the situation and give the result- As it was proved from the charter law that it is justifiable that the laws doesn't imposed on the employees if it do so then there would imposed a restriction on the laws.

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