Whether employees at intensive livestock operations should be covered by labor standards laws is a question for politicians, not the courts, says the former chair of the Saskatchewan Labor Relations Board.
“It’s not the place of a court to say a statute is unjust,” said Beth Bilson, who teaches labor law at the University of Saskatchewan. “The courts don’t do that. Basically they’re bound by what the statute says.”
The Saskatchewan government’s labor and agriculture departments disagree over whether the labor standards act, which sets minimum standards for wages and hours of work, applies to employees of large hog barns.
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They are asking the justice department for an opinion on whether the law, as it is written, makes employers subject to the regulations, or if they are exempt because large hog facilities are “farming operations.”
The Saskatchewan Federation of Labor is angry about the agriculture department’s desire to exclude hog barn workers from protection under the act.
No employee has challenged the exemption, but if they did, the complaint would first go the labor department’s labor standards branch.
If an employee or employer disagreed with the ruling, it could be challenged in court.
No decision on law itself
Bilson said the court would probably restrict its judgment to whether the labor standards branch ruling conformed to the law. It would not decide whether the law itself is just.
“If it says someone is exempt, there’s not much they can do about it,” she said.
The only option for people who don’t like the legal interpretation is to “start phoning your MLA,” Bilson said.
