Colony must pay WCB dues for workers

A Hutterite settlement in Alberta has lost its appeal to the Workers’ Compensation Board and will have to pay dues for workers at the Twin Valley Precast concrete manufacturing business.

The Nov. 1 decision confirms one already made by the Alberta Workers Compensation Dispute Resolution and Decision Review Body on April 12, 2016.

The Spring Ridge Colony is a Hutterite settlement east of Edmonton near Wainwright sustained largely on agricultural business — making up around 90 per cent of the operations — which is afforded exemptions under the Workers’ Compensation Act.

The community was incorporated in 1994 and, as members began to build structures, they began manufacturing pre-cast walls in 2000.

After learning to manufacture the pre-cast walls for their own use, in 2006 members of the community started selling their pre-cast products to paying customers outside of the settlement.

The pre-cast wall business, Twin Valley Precast, was incorporated separately for risk management, liability and tax purposes, but the community considered the pre-cast business as just another facet of its business operations.

The Hutterite settlement had argued the business should be covered under the same exempt status as their agricultural business, but on Nov. 1, the appeals commission for Alberta Workers’ Compensation disagreed, ruling the precast business was to be separately classified in the concrete products manufacturing category and would have to insure its workers and pay dues accordingly.

In 2015, the Twin Valley Precast plant was upgraded, expanding to nearly 4,000 square metres divided into two bays.

The Hutterite settlement had argued the business should be covered under the same exempt status as their agricultural business.