Employees installing irrigation systems are engaged in landscape gardening and exempt from overtime and hours of work provisions.
The applicant employer sought a review of an Order to Pay issued by an Employment Standards Officer for violations of hours of work, overtime, and public holiday provisions of the Employment Standards Act.
The employer argued that its employees, who install and maintain automated irrigation systems, were employed in 'landscape gardening' and therefore exempt from these provisions under Regulation 325.
The Ontario Labour Relations Board heard expert evidence on horticulture and landscaping, concluding that the installation and maintenance of irrigation systems are integral to sustaining plant life and thus fall within the definition of landscape gardening.
The Board rescinded the Order to Pay and directed the return of funds held in trust to the employer.
A. A. Waters & Brookes v. Farzin Lachini et al., 2001 CanLII 13736
