(a) The employer may be an individual, a partnership, or a
corporation. It is not necessary that the employer be a
farmer as defined in Sec. 780.131. It is sufficient that he ``uses''
agricultural labor.
(b) In applying this exemption, one of the main criteria is the
number of man-days of agricultural labor used by the employer. Section
13(a)(6)(A) provides that the exemption shall not apply to an employee
employed in agriculture ``if such employee is employed by an employer
who did not * * * use more than 500 man-days of agricultural labor * *
*.'' From this language of the statute, the man-days of all agricultural
workers, unless specifically excluded, of an employer whether he be the
owner of a single farm, the owner of an enterprise consisting of several
farms, a tenant farmer, an independent contractor, etc., are to be
counted for purposes of section 13(a)(6)(A) whether they are employed at
one place or several widely scattered places. For example if an employer
owns and operates two farms, it is the total number of man-days used on
both farms and not that used on each individual farm that determines
whether he meets the 500 man-day test. Likewise independent contractor
who harvests crops on different farms during the harvesting season must
total all the man-days of agricultural labor used on all such farms
except those excludable under section 3(e) in determining whether he
meets the 500 man-day test.
