Agriculture Employees under the Saskatchewan Employment Act

The Saskatchewan Employment Act (“SEA”) governs many aspects of the employer-employee relationship in Saskatchewan. Part II of the SEA sets forth minimum employment standards that are required to be provided to employees by their employers in most circumstances. However, these minimum standards do not apply to certain employees depending on the nature of their employment. Part II of the SEA does not apply to employees whose primary duties consist of actively engaging in farming, ranching, or market gardening activities.

Farming, Ranching and Market Gardening Activities

It is not clearly defined under Part II of the SEA what it means for an employee to be “actively engaged in farming, ranching, or market gardening activities.”However, the SEA does provide that the following operations are deemed not to be included within the meaning of farming, ranching or market gardening activities:

-         The operation of egg hatcheries, greenhouses and nurseries;

-         Bush clearing operations;and

-         Commercial hog operations.

Furthermore,the Government of Saskatchewan has provided additional examples of what is deemed not to be within the meaning of farming, ranching or market gardening activities as follows:

-         Non-agricultural operations operated through farms, ranches and market gardens;

-         Employees who are not directly involved in the primary food production, such as bookkeepers and mechanics;

-         Employees involved in the secondary production of food and food processing operations, including the making of wine, jam, soup mixes and pasteurized honey; and

-         Commercial entities which provide the following farm services: custom seeding, custom combining,feedlots, corral cleaning and horse boarding.

Whether an employee is engaged in farming, ranching or market gardening activities is not determined by the corporate structure of the employer. Instead, it must be determined by the nature of the employer’s operations and the work being performed by the employee. What is clear is that employers who operate traditional grain or cattle farms will be exempt from providing these minimum standards contained in Part II of the SEA to their employees who are engaged in these operations.

The Minimum Standards

The minimum standards contained in Part II of the SEA that do not apply to employees engaged in these types of activities include but are not limited to the following:

1.     Work schedules (Section 2-11);

2.     Overtime hours not to be required (Section 2-12);

3.     Required period of rest (Section 2-13);

4.     Meal breaks (Section 2-14);

5.     Overtime pay (Section 2-17);

6.     Annual vacation (Sections 2-23 to 2-29);

7.     Public holidays (Sections 2-30 to 2-32);

8.     Payment of wages (Sections 2-33 to 2-37);

9.     Employment leave (Sections 2-43 to 2-60); and

10.  Layoffs and Termination (Sections 2-60 to 2-63).

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list of the minimum standards. This means that these employers will not be required to provide the following to their employees:

(i)            eight consecutive hours of rest on any day;

(ii)           an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes for every five consecutive hours worked;

(iii)         three weeks of annual vacation (or four weeks for employees who have been employed for 10 consecutive years or longer).

Furthermore, employers will not be required to pay the following:

(i)            Overtime to employees for their hours of work that exceeds any of the following: 40 hours in a week; eight hours in a day if the employee works no more than five days in a week; or ten hours in a day if the employee works no more than four days in a week; and

(ii)           Overtime if the employee works on a public holiday.

While these employers will be exempt from the majority of the minimum standards contained in the SEA, it is important to note that common law principles developed by the courts will still have application. This is particularly relevant for circumstances surrounding employment leave, and layoffs and termination. Therefore, the employers may still be required by the court to give employment leave to their employees, and to give the common law period of reasonable notice with respect to layoffs and termination.

Cautionary Note

It’s important to note that the SEA governs employees that are under Saskatchewan jurisdiction. For employees who fall under federal jurisdiction, the Canada Labour Code would govern which does not contain a similar exemption to these types of employees. Circumstances where agricultural employees may unexpectedly fall under federal jurisdiction include but are not limited to the following operations:

(i)            Grain elevators;

(ii)           Feed and seed mills;

(iii)         Feed warehouses; and

(iv)         Grain-seed cleaning plants.

Kade Kehoe is a lawyer, and Frank Chou is a legal summer student, with Stevenson Hood Thornton Beaubier LLP in Saskatoon. Contact: kkehoe@shtb-law.com.

This article is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or other professional advice and does not replace independent legal advice.

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