## Facts

- Mr. and Mrs. Creech operated an egg-production business that owned laying hens and sold eggs to customers.
- Eggs were cleaned, graded, and packaged on the defendants’ premises and delivered to stores, restaurants, and individuals.
- Nannie Mae Hinson worked for defendants cleaning, grading, and packaging eggs; delivering eggs to customers; keeping delivery records; and collecting payments.
- On December 3, 1971, Hinson was killed in a motor vehicle accident while driving a defendants’ truck to deliver eggs.
- Her widower sought workers’ compensation death benefits under the North Carolina Workers’ Compensation Act.
- The Industrial Commission denied the claim, concluding Hinson was a “farm laborer” and thus exempt under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-13(b); the Court of Appeals affirmed.

## Issues

1. Whether the decedent’s employment made her a “farm laborer” excluded from coverage under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 97-13(b).
2. Whether “farm laborer” status turns primarily on the nature of the employee’s work or on the nature of the employer’s business.

## Decision

- The North Carolina Supreme Court reversed.
- The Court held the decedent was not a “farm laborer” within the meaning of § 97-13(b).
- The Court rejected treating the agricultural character of the employer’s enterprise as controlling and emphasized the character of the work the employee was hired to perform.
- The Court distinguished authorities treating poultry operations as “farming” where the claimant performed direct farm chores on the premises.
- The case was remanded for further proceedings consistent with treating the employee as covered by the Act.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory exemptions for “farm laborers” in workers’ compensation are construed narrowly.
- “Farm laborer” status depends on the whole character of the employee’s employment, not merely the task being performed at the moment of injury.
- The controlling classification focuses on the nature of the employee’s work rather than solely on the nature and scope of the employer’s business.
- Work involving post-production processing and commercial distribution (e.g., cleaning, grading, packaging, delivering goods to customers, recordkeeping, collecting payments) may fall outside the “farm laborer” exemption when sufficiently removed from core farm chores.

## Conclusion

Because the decedent’s regular duties centered on processing and distributing eggs rather than performing direct farm chores tied to agricultural production, she was not a “farm laborer” under § 97-13(b), and her death claim was not barred by the exemption.


Hinson v. Creech, 286 N.C. 156, 209 S.E.2d 471 (1974)