Document name

Coverage – Students in Work Experience Programs

Document number

POL 24/2025

Community-Based Organization (CBO), also referred to as career services funded organization, means an organization recognized by the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training that delivers training or employment services for no profit.

Host organization means the organization (private, public, non-profit, agency, business, or association, etc.) at which a student undertakes a work experience program.

Student, for the purpose of this policy, means an individual who is engaged in an unpaid work experience program and who is registered with:

• The Students Records Unit of the Ministry of Education, if the work experience program is offered by a school,
• A post-secondary institution, if the work experience program is offered by that institution, or
• The Ministry of Immigration and Career Training, if the work experience program is offered by a CBO.

A student is considered unpaid even if they receive payments, such as an allowance or stipend for training or social assistance issued on a Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity and Other Income (T4A) or a Statement of Investment Income (T5), as these are not considered employment earnings.

Work experience program, also referred to as work-integrated learning assignment, means a program, course, or component of a course offered by a school, post-secondary institution or CBO, where a student works without pay for a host organization for the purpose of learning, receiving training or work experience.

1. The Workers’ Compensation Act, 2013 (the “Act”), considers a secondary or post-secondary student who is enrolled in a program recognized by the Minister in which the student is given training or work experience as workers (Sections 2(ii)(iv)).
2. The Workers’ Compensation General Regulations, 1985 directs a participant as defined in section 2 of The Employment Program Regulations, 2021, who is enrolled in a program recognized by the minister to be a worker under the Act (Section 10.2).

1. Students are considered workers of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Advanced Education, or the Ministry of Immigration and Career Training while in the course of completing a work experience program with a host organization covered under the Act.
2. A student is considered unpaid even if they receive payments, such as an allowance or stipend for training or social assistance issued on a Statement of Pension, Retirement, Annuity and Other Income (T4A) or a Statement of Investment Income (T5), as these are not considered employment earnings.
3. Coverage is not extended to students who:
   1. Attend “Take Our Kids to Work” or any other job-shadowing or similar type of program,
   2. Are injured at the learning institution’s premises, unless the injury arises out of and in the course of a work experience (i.e., while the student is performing activities consistent with and required for, or reasonably related to, their work experience),
   3. Participate in work experience programs which take place outside of Saskatchewan, or
   4. Participate in work experience programs in an industry or occupation excluded under the Act, unless the host organization has applied for voluntary coverage.

Secondary Education

4. The Ministry of Education is the designated employer for secondary students participating in a work experience program that is offered by schools listed in the appendix.
5. The Ministry of Advanced Education is the designated employer for post-secondary students participating in a work experience program offered by either post-secondary institutions or out-of-province post-secondary institutions and programs listed in the appendix.
6. The Ministry of Immigration and Career Training is the designated employer for individuals participating in a work experience program that is offered by a community-based organization.
7. Students who are not covered through the ministries and are paid with assessable earnings as defined in POL 04/2025, Assessable Earnings, will be covered as workers through their Saskatchewan employer. This includes:
   1. Out-of-province students participating in work experience programs in Saskatchewan, and
   2. Saskatchewan-based students enrolled in institutions not listed in this policy and who are participating in work experience programs in Saskatchewan.

Injury Claims

8. The Ministries are considered the designated employers and claim costs for students will be charged to ministries’ industry rate code.
9. No payment for loss of earnings will be made during a school term or a training period unless actual loss of earnings is demonstrated.
10. If there is loss of earnings between school terms or following termination of schooling, the calculation of wage loss benefits for any claims arising out of this policy will be based on:
    1. All earnings from a participating student’s employment in industries covered by the Act, not exceeding the maximum wage rate under the Act at that time,
    2. A student’s regular gross earnings at the commencement of earnings loss or the provincial minimum wage for a forty-hour work week, whichever is greater,
    3. After wage loss benefits have been paid for a period of 24 consecutive months, two-thirds of the average weekly wage as of June in the year immediately preceding the year in which the loss of earnings or ability to earn occurs; or
    4. In the event of a fatality, benefits to dependents will be based on the provisions of the Act.