A Stratford, Ontario labor lawyer warns agricultural employers need to know the labor laws that apply to them and take pre-emptive action to ensure compliance.
“Workplace Regulations: What Will It Cost?” was among the topics discussed yesterday as part of the 2018 London Swine Conference.
Katie DeBlock Boersma, with Monteith Ritsma Phillips Professional Corporation, says legislation governing agricultural workplaces falls under provincial jurisdiction and can be overwhelming.
You need to be familiar with what ever piece of legislation it is in your province that dictates the particulars of that minimum wage, pay, hours. Make sure you’re familiar with that legislation. You don’t want to be contravening that. Make sure you’re familiar with the occupational health and safety legislation that applies in your jurisdiction.
One of the ways you can become familiar with those types of legislation is by seeking out some human resource professionals or legal professionals. There’s lots of training that can be provided that can provide a really easy overview because, quite frankly, reading the legislation itself isn’t often going to get you there, can be difficult to work through.
Number two, you should always be considering, if you have paid employees, having an employment contract where you can really make clear a lot of things about how that relationship is going to play out, both during the course of it and if there ends up being an end to that relationship, your rights, the employee’s rights on termination is really important.
One last thing would be an employee code of conduct where you have an opportunity as an employer to really set out the behaviors and expectations of employees very clearly that you can then use as a go to and a guide to help deal with situations as they might arise.
Katie DeBlock Boersma-Monteith Ritsma Phillips Professional Corporation
DeBlock Boersma notes, an employer found to be in contravention of the regulations faces the prospects of having to pay compensation to the worker, fines and surcharges as well as legal costs.
