Some employers and employees are not covered by employment standards. This includes:
- Employers under federal jurisdiction;
- Athletes while engaged in their athletic endeavour; and
- Family businesses employing only immediate family members.
Employers under Federal Jurisdiction
If you are an employer in one of the following business sectors or industries, you are likely operating under federal jurisdiction, and Saskatchewan Employment Standards do not apply:
- banks
- air transportation, including airports and airlines
- telephone, telegraphs and cable systems
- grain elevators and seed mills
- uranium mining and processing
- First Nation government activities
- licensed inter-provincial trucking
Family Businesses employing only immediate family members
Family businesses employing only the employer’s immediate family members are exempted from Employment Standards. The term “employer’s immediate family” is defined as:
(i) a spouse of the employer or a person with whom the employer cohabits and has cohabited as a spouse in a relationship of some permanence;
(ii) a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister of the employer; or
(iii) a parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, brother or sister of the spouse of the employer or of a person mentioned in subclause (i) with whom the employer cohabits.
An example:
An employer hires her spouse and sister to work in her business. As these two employees are members of the employer’s immediate family, the business is exempt from Employment Standards.
The employer then hires a third-cousin. The new employee is not part of the employer’s immediate family, so all employees - including those in the employer’s immediate family – are now covered by Employment Standards.