While employees and employers in primary production are exempt from the majority of minimum standards, some provisions do allow Employment Standards to enforce wages under employment contracts. In these cases, Employment Standards can investigate complaints, assess and collect unpaid wages owing to employees on farms, ranches and market gardens.
Agricultural employees that continue to be fully covered under The Saskatchewan Employment Act include:
- The operation of egg hatcheries, greenhouses and nurseries;
- Bush clearing operations;
- Commercial hog operations;
- Non-agricultural businesses run from farms, ranches, and market gardens;
- Farm employees who are not directly involved in the primary food production, such as bookkeepers, mechanics, etc.;
- Employees involved in secondary production, such as food processing operations including the making of wine, jams, soup mixes, pasteurized honey, etc.; and
- Commercial enterprises that provide farm services such as custom seeding, custom combining, feedlots, corral cleaning, horse boarding, etc.