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ski instructors

Ski instructors to get proper hours (chris woodall) Ski instructors are professionals who should have the same minimum hours of work requirements as other employees covered by the B.C.

Ski instructors to get proper hours (chris woodall) Ski instructors are professionals who should have the same minimum hours of work requirements as other employees covered by the B.C. Employment Standards Act, says an independent employment standards tribunal. The tribunal has been investigating employee groups that have been left outside the Act for one reason or another, including oil and gas workers, ski instructors and live-in camp leaders. The tribunal decided ski instructors should be entitled to a minimum four hours pay. However, if conditions preventing work — such as bad weather — are beyond the employer's control, the ski instructor is entitled to either a minimum two hours pay or the length of time worked, whichever is greater. "There was a time when being a ski instructor was seen as almost being a recreational activity in itself," B.C. Labour Minister John Cashore said in a release. "That time is long past. Today's instructors are highly trained and qualified professionals. As well, the industry has matured to the point where it is realistic to provide people with at least four hours work." Both Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains say their ski instructors are already working within the general Employment Standards guidelines. Some ski mountains liked to avoid the four-hour rule because it was easier to send a ski instructor home after teaching a two-hour ski lesson when there might not be any lessons scheduled afterward. Live-in camp leaders will be excluded from hourly minimum wage requirements, the Employment Standards tribunal decided. But this will take place only when a daily wage minimum has been established to cover a camp leader's day or part of a day worked. "A broad consultation process has been initiated to establish appropriate daily wage rates and definitions for live-in camp leaders," Cashore says. "My expectation is that this question will be fully resolved before the beginning of summer."