§ 780.312 “Hand harvest laborer” defined.

(a) The term hand harvest laborer for purposes of this exemption refers to farm workers engaged in harvesting by hand, or with hand tools, soil grown crops such as cotton, tobacco, grains, fruits, and vegetables. The term would not include harvesting operations performed by an employee with an electrically powered mechanical device, such as a “blueberry picking tool.” “Hand-harvesting” refers only to soil-grown crops and does not include any operation involving animals, such as shearing or lambing of sheep and catching chickens. Hand-harvesting is defined as manually gathering or severing the crop from the soil, stems, or roots at its growing position in the fields. Included are integral related operations, closely related geographically and in point of time, which are performed before the transportation to concentration points on the farm.