Employment legislation exempts many farming activities

The Saskatchewan Employment Act governs many aspects of the employer-employee relationship in Saskatchewan.

Part II of the act sets minimum employment standards that employers are required to provided to their employers in most circumstances. However, these minimum standards do not apply to certain employees, depending on the nature of their employment.

For example, Part II of the SEA does not apply to employees whose primary duties comprise active engagement in farming, ranching, or market gardening activities.

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The act does not clearly define what it means for an employee to be “actively engaged in farming, ranching, or market gardening activities,” but it does provide that the following operations are deemed not to be included within the meaning of farming, ranching or market gardening activities:

operation of egg hatcheries, greenhouses and nurseries
bush clearing operations
commercial hog operations

Furthermore, the provincial government has provided additional examples of what is deemed not to be within the meaning of farming, ranching or market gardening activities:

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.
Commercial entities that 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 the minimum standards contained in the act to their employees who are engaged in these operations.

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

work schedules (Section 2-11)
overtime hours not to be required (Section 2-12)
required period of rest (Section 2-13)
meal breaks (Section 2-14)
overtime pay (Section 2-17)
annual vacation (Sections 2-23 to 2-29)
public holidays (Sections 2-30 to 2-32)
payment of wages (Sections 2-33 to 2-37)
employment leave (Sections 2-43 to 2-60)
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:

eight consecutive hours of rest on any day
an unpaid meal break of at least 30 minutes for every five consecutive hours worked
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:

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 10 hours in a day if the employee works no more than four days in a week
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, 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.

It’s important to note that the SEA governs employees who 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: