Statute Text
Employment;
agricultural labor excluded; exceptions.
(1) Employment does not include agricultural labor
unless such labor is performed after December 31, 1977, for an employing unit
who:
(a) During any
calendar quarter in the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year
paid remuneration in cash of $20,000 or more to individuals employed in
agricultural labor; or
(b) On each of 20
days during the current calendar year or the preceding calendar year, each day
being in a different calendar week, employed in agricultural labor for some
portion of the day (whether or not at the same moment of time) 10 or more
individuals.
(2)
Notwithstanding subsection (1)(a) and (b) of this section, employment does
not include services performed before January 1, 1993, by an individual who is
a noncitizen admitted to the United States to perform agricultural labor
pursuant to sections 214(c) and 101(a) (15) (H) of the Immigration and
Nationality Act.
(3) Agricultural
labor does not include services performed for the state or a political
subdivision but does include all services performed:
(a) On a farm, in
the employ of any person, in connection with cultivating the soil, or in
connection with raising or harvesting any agricultural or horticultural
commodity, including the raising, shearing, feeding, caring for, training and
management of livestock, bees, poultry and fur-bearing animals and wildlife.
(b) In the employ
of the owner or tenant or other operator of a farm, in connection with the
operation, management, conservation, improvement or maintenance of such farm
and its tools and equipment, or in salvaging timber or clearing land of brush
and other debris left by a hurricane, if the major part of such services is
performed on a farm.
(c) In connection
with the production or harvesting of any commodity defined as an agricultural
commodity in section 15(g) of the Federal Agricultural Marketing Act, as
amended, or in connection with the ginning of cotton, or in connection with the
operation or maintenance of ditches, canals, reservoirs or waterways not owned
or operated for profit used exclusively for supplying and storing water for
farming purposes.
(d) In the employ
of the operator or group of operators of a farm or farms (or a cooperative
organization of which such operator or operators are members) in handling,
planting, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, storing or
delivering to storage or to market or to a carrier for transportation to
market, in its unmanufactured state, any agricultural or horticultural
commodity, but only if such operator or group of operators produced more than
one-half of the commodity, as measured by volume, weight or other customary
means, with respect to which such service is performed.
(4) Subsection
(3)(d) of this section does not apply to service performed in connection with:
(a) Commercial
canning, commercial freezing or brining of cherries;
(b) Any
agricultural or horticultural commodity after its delivery to a terminal market
for distribution for consumption; or
(c) Any activity
enumerated in subsection (3)(d) of this section when performed for an employer
also engaged in any activity enumerated in paragraph (a) or (b) of this
subsection.
(5) Farms, as
used in this section, includes stock, dairy, poultry, fruit, fur-bearing
animal, Christmas tree and truck farms, plantations, orchards, ranches,
nurseries, ranges, greenhouses or other similar structures used primarily for
the raising of agricultural or horticultural commodities.
(6) For the
purpose of this section, service in connection with the raising of
forestry-type seedlings is agricultural labor when performed in a nursery.
(7)(a) For
purposes of this chapter, and for services performed after December 31, 1977,
any individual who is a member of a crew furnished by a crew leader to perform
agricultural labor for any other person shall be treated as an employee of such
crew leader if:
(A) Such crew
leader holds a valid certificate of registration under the federal Migrant and
Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act; or
(B) Substantially
all the members of such crew operate or maintain mechanized equipment which is
provided by such crew leader; and
(C) Such
individual is not an employee of such other persons under the usual common law
rules applicable in determining the employer-employee relationship.
(b) Any
individual who is furnished by a crew leader to perform agricultural labor for
any other person and who is not treated as an employee of such crew leader
under paragraph (a) of this subsection shall be an employee of such other
person and such other person shall be treated as having paid cash remuneration
to such individual in an amount equal to the amount of cash remuneration paid
to such individual by the crew leader, either on behalf of the crew leader or
on behalf of such other person, for agricultural labor perform