Code of Federal Regulations Title 29. Labor § 29.780.318 Exemption for nonlocal minors

(a) Section 13(a)(6)(D) of the 1966 Amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act exempts from the minimum wage and overtime provisions “any employee employed in agriculture * * * if such employee (other than an employee described in clause (C) of this subsection):  (1) Is 16 years of age or under and is employed as a hand harvest laborer, is paid on a piece rate basis in an operation which has been, and is customarily and generally recognized as having been, paid on a piece rate basis in the region of employment, (2) is employed on the same farm as his parent of persons standing in the place of his parent, and (3) is paid at the same piece rate as employees over age 16 are paid on the same farm.”

(b) It is clear from the legislative history of the amendments that the exemption was intended to apply, where the other specific tests are met, only to minors 16 years of age or under who are not “local” in the sense that they are away from their permanent home when employed in agriculture. Specifically the exemption was intended to apply in the case of the children of migrants who typically accompany their parents in harvesting and other agricultural work. (S. Rept. No. 1487, 89th Cong., second sess., to accompany H.R. 13712, pp. 9 and 10)