On January 31, 2008, Manitoba Labour and Immigration Minister Nancy Allan announced regulatory changes to the Employment Standards Code which will modernize and expand employment standards protection for most agricultural workers to better reflect the realities of the industry and will help attract and retain workers in an increasingly competitive labour market.

Currently, agricultural employees are only covered by the equal pay, payment of wages, and employment records provisions of the Code. Regulation 26/2008, registered on February 6, 2008, will come into force on June 30, 2008, and make a number of new provisions for agricultural employees, including:

Full coverage under the Employment Standards Code, including standard hours of work, overtime, reporting pay, and statutory holidays for: (1) employees employed by agriculture companies that provide services to farms and farmers, (i.e., who work for individuals or companies that do not own the farm where the work is being done); and (2) workers in large-scale, climate-controlled facilities, such as greenhouses, mushroom farms, and indoor livestock operations.
Coverage under most of the Code for employees who work on a farm in the primary production of agricultural products on that farm, however these employees will still be excluded from reporting pay, general holiday, standard hours of work and overtime provisions. "Agricultural products" includes livestock, poultry, livestock and poultry products, fruits, vegetables, grains, oilseeds, pulse, forage, and market garden or horticultural products.
Coverage for employees who work on a farm that is owned by a family member will remain unchanged, in recognition of the fact that agricultural operations often employ family members and small family-run farms have unique operational features. "Family member" in relation to an employee means: a spouse or common-law partner; a child of the employee or a child of the employee's spouse or common-law partner; a parent of the employee or a spouse or common-law partner of the parent. An employee who is employed by a family farm corporation is also deemed to be employed by a family member if the corporation is controlled by the employee and/or one or more of his or her family members.

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