Fact Sheet
Standards for employees of Agricultural Service Providers
Employment Standards in Agriculture at a glanceThe chart below lists the most common Employment Standards provisions and to whom they apply in agriculture:
What are agriculture companies that provide services to farms and farmers?Employees who work for an agricultural company that provides services to farms and farmers are covered by all provisions of The Employment Standards Code. These are businesses that provide services to farms, but do not own the farms where the work is being done. This includes businesses that provide services like custom combining, chicken catching crews, manure removal, or other services in the agriculture industry. How often must employees be paid?Employees must be paid at least twice a month, within 10 working days of the end of a pay period. If the employment is terminated, employees must be paid within 10 working days from the date of termination. What records are employers required to maintain?Employers must keep records for all employees that show:
If an employee is paid a monthly or annual salary, it can be divided into an hourly wage for record keeping purposes. Regular hours of work are not required to be recorded if they do not vary on a daily basis, but any overtime or other changes should be recorded. What are the rules regarding equal pay?Generally, employers determine the wage rate for their employees. Employers can not have separate wage schedules for male and female employees if the kind or quality of work and the amount of work required and done by the employees is the same or substantially the same. What is the minimum wage?Minimum wage is $15.80 per hour effective October 1, 2024. Do employees need to give notice of termination?Yes. The amount of notice depends on how long the employee has been employed by the same employer:
Do employers need to give notice of termination?Yes. The amount of notice depends on how long the employee has worked for the same employer.
Employers can either allow the employee to work out this notice period, or pay wages in lieu of notice for the same number of weeks, or a combination of both. Do seasonal, part-time employees or employees on unpaid leave still qualify?Yes. Under The Employment Standards Code, all employees employed by an employer are eligible for legislated leaves of absence. For example, regardless of the hours you work you are still considered employed and as such, entitled to the leave. Some leaves require consecutive months or a certain number of days of employment to qualify. Can employers pay wages instead of providing notice of termination?Employers can pay the amount of wages employees would otherwise have received had they worked out the notice period (often called wages in lieu of notice). Employers can also allow employees to work for part of the notice period and pay wages in lieu of notice for the remainder. Employees who work the same hours every week receive their regular earnings for wages in lieu of notice. For employees who work varying hours every week, wages in lieu are based on the average of the earnings for regular weekly hours worked over the last 6 month period. Vacation wages and overtime wages are not added to wages paid in lieu of notice.
Is there a period when no notice is needed?Yes. Employers and employees do not need to give notice of termination when the employee has been employed for less than 30 days. Employers are not allowed to extend or change this period unless it is negotiated in a collective agreement with a union. Are there situations when employers or employees do not need to give notice of termination?The following are some cases where notice of termination is not required:
Employers must consider each situation on a case by case basis if deciding not to provide a notice period to an employee. Are employers required to give notice to seasonal employees?It depends. Employers are not required to provide notice of termination at the end of the season if the employees are told when they are hired the position is subject to seasonal layoffs and the job will end at the end of the season. However, if an employee is terminated before the end of the season, the appropriate notice would apply. Employers are not under any obligation to rehire an employee who was released at the end of the season. How is the period of employment calculated in regard to termination for seasonal employees?Employment in a seasonal industry is deemed to be continuous if employees return to work with the same employer each season. Each consecutive season they return adds one more year of service. Seasonal employees who are terminated before the end of the season are entitled to notice of termination based on their number of consecutive seasons with the employer. At what age can young people start working?All young people 13, 14 or 15 years of age must complete the Young Worker Readiness Certificate Course, and obtain a Certificate of Completion that is signed by their parent/guardian before they can work. What additional restrictions apply to young people who are 13 years old?Young people who are 13 years of age cannot prepare food if they need to use dangerous tools or machinery such as deep fryers, slicers, grills, or knives. They can still work in food preparation areas doing tasks like washing dishes, mixing salads, or filling drink orders. How long is a vacation?Employees must receive at least two weeks of vacation after each of the first four years of employment. After completing 5 years of work with the same employer, employees must receive a minimum of 3 weeks of vacation. What are employees paid while on vacation?Vacation pay is calculated based on the gross earnings in the previous year. Employees who are entitled to two weeks of vacation receive 4% of their gross wages as vacation pay and employees with three weeks’ vacation receive 6%. Can employers put vacation pay on every cheque?Employers may put vacation pay on every cheque. Employees are still entitled to take time off as vacation, but because it has already been paid, they do not receive any additional vacation pay while they are off. How is the period of employment calculated in regard to vacation for seasonal employees?Employees who are laid off at the end of the season and are rehired at the beginning of the next season are considered to have continuous employment for vacation. Therefore, an employee is entitled to 2 weeks vacation and 4% of their wages as vacation pay after the first four seasons and is entitled to 3 weeks of vacation and 6% of their wages as vacation pay once they have completed 5 seasons with the employer. How often must employees receive a break?Employees must be given a 30 minute unpaid break after every five consecutive hours of work. Many employers provide additional coffee breaks, cigarette breaks, or other meal breaks. These are a benefit, but are not required. How often must employers provide a day of rest?Most employees are entitled to a rest period of no less than 24 consecutive hours each week. In practice, this means employees could work up to 12 days in a row in a two week period if the days of rest occur at the beginning of the first week and the end of the second week. What leaves are available to employees?There are 14 leaves employees may take without fear of losing their job. They are:
Who is eligible for the leave and how to qualify?All employees are eligible if they meet the qualifying period of employment for the leave. Each leave has various lengths of time an employee must be employed before they can qualify to take a leave. For all leaves, employees must be employed by an employer for a certain length of time before they can take a leave. All leaves have specific requirements that must be met for an employee to be able to take the leave. For more information on a specific leave, see the fact sheets on our website or contact Employment Standards. Do employees get paid when on leave?No. Employers are not required to pay wages to employees while on leave. For all leaves, the legislation only requires employers to provide the time off and allow employees to return to their job when the leave has ended. Employers can, and often do, give greater benefits than those provided for in the legislation. However, other federal programs may provide income replacement. Employees should contact the federal government to find out what types of leaves have income replacement. The only exceptions under The Employment Standards Code where an employer is required to pay a portion of a leave is under the Domestic Violence Leave and the COVID-19 Vaccination Leave.
What can be deducted from employees' wages?
The general rule is employers can only make deductions from wages when these are:
Examples of what can be deducted from employees’ wages include:
What types of things cannot be deducted from employees’ wages?Employers cannot charge interest or fees for cashing cheques or providing payroll advances. Employers cannot recover business expenses from the wages of employees. Unauthorized deductions include:
What are the general holidays in Manitoba?There are nine general holidays throughout the year:
Most employees are paid general holiday pay for these days whether they work or not.
How is general holiday pay calculated?Employees who consistently work the same number of hours get one regular work day’s pay as general holiday pay.
For employees whose hours of work or wages vary, general holiday pay is calculated at 5% of the gross wages (not including overtime) in the 4 week period immediately before the holiday.
Do all employees receive general holiday pay?All employees receive general holiday pay unless:
Election officials, enumerators and any other temporary person appointed under The Elections Act are not entitled to general holiday pay. What if employees work on the general holiday?Employees who work on a general holiday are normally entitled to 1 ½ times their regular rate of pay for the hours worked on the day in addition to their general holiday pay. Do all agricultural businesses need to pay 1 ½ times the regular wage for work on a general holiday?There is an exception for employers operating a continuously operating business, a climate-controlled agricultural business, or a seasonal business. These types of businesses can pay 1 ½ times the regular wage for hours worked on the general holiday, or can instead allow the employee to work the general holiday and pay them regular wages for their hours worked, if they provide another day off with general holiday pay within the next 30 days. The employer and employee can agree to a longer period before the employee's next annual vacation if they wish. How much are employees paid for reporting to work?When an employer decides to cancel shifts or to send employees home early, those scheduled to work more than 3 hours, and
If employees are scheduled to work less than 3 hours, they must be paid for their entire scheduled shift. The following table explains what an employee is entitled to be paid if the employer cancels or cuts the shift short. When employees are notified of the change in schedule before reporting to work, they are not entitled to reporting pay.
What are the standard hours of work?Standard hours of work are 40 hours a week and 8 hours a day. Employees are entitled to their regular wage rate for work during these hours. If employees work more than the standard hours in a week or in a day, this is overtime and must be paid at the overtime rate. What is the overtime wage rate?Employees are paid 1 ½ times their regular hourly wage for each hour (or part of an hour) worked during overtime. How are overtime hours determined?Overtime is determined by the number of hours employees work in a day and in a week. Any hours worked over 8 hours in a day or 40 hours in a week are overtime. Below are some examples of how to calculate overtime. Days where overtime hours are worked are shown in bold:
Who decides when overtime will be worked?
Employees cannot work overtime without the knowledge or permission of their employers. Employees must be paid at 1½ times their regular wage rate if employers ask, allow, or acknowledge the overtime. Can employees bank overtime and take time off later?Yes. Employers and employees can agree in writing to bank overtime. The agreement must follow these rules:
Employer Flexibility
The Employment Standards Code establishes the minimum standards for employees and employers in the workplace. The legislation does consider that a degree of flexibility is required in the workplace and employers need to be able to administer the wages and benefits they provide in a way that makes sense for them. Who controls scheduling of the hours of work?Within the standard hours of work, employers control scheduling. They make or approve work schedules that suit their business needs, and can change work schedules at any time. Sometimes employers involve employees in decisions about scheduling, but are not required to do so. Does an employee decide when they are going on vacation?The employer controls scheduling within standard hours of work, including when an employee will take their vacation. Operational needs may require that employees take their vacation during slow periods. The employer and employee often discuss when an employee wants to take vacation, but in the end it is the employer’s decision. If an employer and employee cannot agree on when the vacation will be taken, the employer sets the vacation date. The employer must give the employee 15 days’ notice before the vacation is to be taken, and cannot divide the vacation into periods shorter than one week. Employers can choose to schedule their employees' vacations as part of an annual shut down. Can a salary include some overtime?Yes. Employers and employees can agree on a salary that includes a specific amount of overtime. Agreements should be made before any overtime is worked and must clearly identify wages for working more than the standard hours. Clearly written agreements can save future disagreements. For example: An employee earns a salary of $700 per week and is expected to work a 50-hour week. This agreement means the employee is working 40 regular hours and 10 hours of overtime each week as part of the salary. To calculate an hourly wage rate for the salary, the overtime hours are first converted to standard (regular) hours by multiplying them by 1 ½.
In this example
These are then added to the regular hours:
The hourly wage an employee should be paid for regular hours worked is then calculated by dividing the salary by the total number of regular hours:
For the overtime hours worked, the employee must be paid at 1 ½ times this hourly wage: If the employee works more than the agreed 50 hours, the employee must be paid at the overtime wage for those hours. Changing the standard hours of work for overtimeEmployers are responsible for scheduling employees, according to the standard hours of work (8 hours in a day and 40 hours in a week). Work beyond these hours is overtime. When the needs of the business cannot be accommodated within these standards, employers may apply to Employment Standards for a permit to modify the daily hours or the weekly hours. For Employment Standards to consider a permit, the agreement of a significant majority of the affected employees is usually required. For example, an employer can apply to extend the work day to 10 hours before paying overtime, or they could apply for a permit that would allow the employer to average the hours over a 4 week period to better meet the needs of their business.How do I apply for a permit?Download applications forms from www.manitoba.ca/labour/standards/forms.html or by calling Employment Standards. The completed application can be dropped off, mailed or faxed to the nearest Employment Standards office. More information can be found on the Averaging Permits fact sheet. Can employees and employers choose to use a different day as a general holiday?Employers may substitute another day for all general holidays except Orange Shirt Day, for the purposes of general holiday pay and wages for hours worked on the day:
The substituted day must be within 12 months of the general holiday. Is there flexibility in non-monetary issues like breaks and weekly day of rest?Yes. The employer does control scheduling and has some flexibility regarding when employees take their break or get a day off. Some employees do not want to take their breaks or, especially in seasonal industries, want to work on their day off if there is work available. When employees, if requested by the employer, choose to work through their breaks, or do not take a day off, they must be paid properly. Employers should discuss the importance of the rest period and breaks with their employee, and should they still wish to work through the break clearly determine how it will effect their pay. For more information contact Employment Standards:Phone: 204-945-3352 or toll free in Canada 1-800-821-4307 Fax: 204-948-3046 Website: www.manitoba.ca/labour/standards This is a general overview and the information used is subject to change. For detailed information, please refer to current legislation including The Employment Standards Code, The Construction Industry Wages Act , The Worker Recruitment and Protection Act, or contact Employment Standards.
Available in alternate formats
Date Published: September 27, 2024 |
- Telephone: 204-945-3352
- Toll Free: 1-800-821-4307
- Fax: 204-948-3046
- Find the Office nearest you
