Exclusions

The Act Respecting Labour Relations, Vocational Training, and Workforce Management in the Construction Industry (Act R-20) covers construction work and labour relations that govern all workers and employers in this sector. The statute defines its field of application and also sets out exclusions (section 19). Therefore, it does not apply to the following types of work:

(1) agricultural exploitations or construction work on a greenhouse to be used for agricultural production done by the regular employees of the greenhouse operator, of the greenhouse manufacturer, of the greenhouse manufacturer's successor, or of a person whose main activity is to do such work and to whom the manufacturer or the manufacturer's successor entrusts such work on an exclusive basis;
(2) maintenance and repair work done by permanent employees and by employees replacing them temporarily, hired directly by an employer other than a professional employer;
(3) construction work on piping, sewers, paving, sidewalks, and other work of the same kind done by the employees of metropolitan communities and municipalities;
(4) construction work relating directly to the exploration for or operation of a mine, done by employees of mining undertakings, or work on tailings facilities;
(5) construction work relating directly to forest operations, done by employees of undertakings for forestry operations;
(6) construction work on power transmission lines, done by the employees of Hydro-Québec;
(7) (subparagraph repealed)
(8) maintenance, renovation, repair, and alteration work done by permanent employees engaged directly by metropolitan communities and municipalities, by permanent employees engaged directly by the school boards and colleges contemplated in the Act Respecting the Process of Negotiation of the Collective Agreements in the Public and Parapublic Sectors (Chapter R-8.2) and by the permanent employees engaged directly by the public institutions contemplated in the Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services (Chapter S-4.2) or in the Act Respecting Health Services and Social Services for Cree Native Persons (Chapter S-5), and by employees engaged directly by such institutions to replace temporarily the permanent employees
(9) work carried out for a natural person, for his own account and for personal and strictly non-profit-making purposes consisting in :
- i. maintenance, repair, renovation, and alteration work in respect of a dwelling in which he lives
- ii. the construction of a garage or a storage shed adjoining a dwelling in which he lives, whether contiguous thereto or not
(10) construction work relating to gutters, garage doors, central vacuum cleaner systems, and landscaping, including yards, asphalt or concrete driveways or sidewalks, where the work is carried out in respect of a single-family dwelling by a person other than a professional employer or by an employee who ordinarily does not carry out construction work other than work referred to in this subparagraph
(11) the transport of bulk material effected by an operator of heavy vehicles registered in the bulk trucking register under the Transport Act (Chapter T-12), where the only truck entered in the name of the operator is driven by the operator or, in the case of a legal person, by the administrator or principal shareholder of the legal person, or by a person who is replacing the operator, administrator, or shareholder because of his de facto incapacity
(12) pavement marking on public or private roads
(13) the production or restoration of an original artistic work of research or expression or its integration into the architecture or interior and exterior spaces of a building or civil engineering structure, where the work is done by a person who is not a regular employee of a professional employer but is a:
- i. professional artist who is a member of an association in the field of visual arts or arts and crafts recognized under the Act Respecting the Professional Status of Artists in the Visual Arts, Arts and Crafts and Literature, and Their Contracts with Promoters (Chapter S-32.01)
- ii. a professional restorer who is a member of a restorers’ association recognized for that purpose by the Minister, after consultation with the Minister of Culture and Communications; the Minister shall publish the name of every restorers’ association recognized by the Minister in the Gazette officielle du Québec
(14) volunteer construction work defined by regulation of the Government, if the conditions and particularities set out in that regulation are present.

In this Act and the regulations, an independent contractor is deemed to be an employer.

No professional employer may hire, directly or through an intermediary, the services of an independent contractor other than an independent contractor belonging to the “Heavy equipment contractor” or “Excavation and earthwork contractor” subcategory for the purpose of carrying out construction work.

No person other than a professional employer may hire the services of an independent contractor who does not belong to the “Heavy equipment contractor” or “Excavation and earthwork contractor” subcategory, except for the purpose of carrying out maintenance, repair and minor renovation work.

No person other than a professional employer may cause maintenance, repair and minor renovation work to be carried out simultaneously on the same job-site by more than one independent contractor belonging to any subcategory whatever, except the “Heavy equipment contractor” or “Excavation and earthwork contractor” subcategory.

An independent contractor shall require a remuneration at least equal, on an hourly basis, to the remuneration in currency and to the compensation or benefits having pecuniary value determined by a collective agreement for an employee doing similar work, except benefits relating to a complementary social benefits plan.

A person who carries out construction work as an independent contractor or as the designated representative of an independent contractor must have in his possession an attestation of the contractor’s membership in the employers’ association.