[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 29, Volume 3]

[Revised as of July 1, 2006]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 29CFR780.143]



[Page 531-532]

 

                             TITLE 29--LABOR

 

         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

 

PART 780_EXEMPTIONS APPLICABLE TO AGRICULTURE, PROCESSING OF AGRICULTURAL 

COMMODITIES, AND RELATED SUBJECTS UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT--Table 

of Contents

 

                 Subpart B_General Scope of Agriculture

 

Sec.  780.143  Practices on a farm not performed for the farmer.



    The fact that a practice performed on a farm is not performed by or 

for the farmer is a strong indication that it is not performed in 

connection with the farming operations there conducted. Thus, where such 

an employer other than the farmer performs certain work on a farm solely 

for himself in furtherance of his own enterprise, the practice cannot 

ordinarily be regarded as performed in connection with farming 

operations conducted on the farm. For example, it is clear that the work 

of employees of a utility company in trimming and cutting trees for 

power and communications lines is part of a nonfarming enterprise 

outside the scope of agriculture. When a packer of vegetables or 

dehydrator of alfalfa



[[Page 532]]



buys the standing crop from the farmer, harvests it with his own crew of 

employees, and transports the harvested crop to his off-the-farm packing 

or dehydrating plant, the transporting and plant employees, who are not 

engaged in ``primary'' agriculture as are the harvesting employees (see 

NLRB v. Olaa Sugar Co., 242 F. 2d 714), are clearly not agricultural 

employees. Such an employer cannot automatically become an agricultural 

employer by merely transferring the plant operations to the farm so as 

to meet the ``on a farm'' requirement. His employees will continue 

outside the scope of agriculture if the packing or dehydrating is not in 

reality done for the farmer. The question of for whom the practices are 

performed is one of fact. In determining the question, however, the fact 

that prior to the performance of the packing or dehydrating operations, 

the farmer has relinquished title and divested himself of further 

responsibility with respect to the product, is highly significant.



Performance of the Practice ``As an Incident To or In Conjunction With'' 

                         the Farming Operations