(a) The terms "agricultural laborer" or "laborer" as used in this chapter mean an individual who does one or more of the following activities at an agricultural establishment including a farm, a tree or sod farm, ranch, packing shed, greenhouse, or nursery:
  (1) plants, cultivates, harvests, or handles an agricultural or horticultural commodity in its unmanufactured state. "Agricultural laborer" includes, but is not limited to, field workers who plant, weed, thin, cultivate, detassel, hoe, irrigate, harvest, tie vines; nursery workers; workers who load trucks to take the commodity from the field to the packing shed ; and workers at the packing shed who handle the commodity;
  (2) handles a covered pesticide chemical as part of the agricultural laborer's duties at the agricultural establishment, including, but not limited to, mixing, loading, or applying a covered pesticide chemical;
  (3) risks exposure to a covered pesticide chemical because of the agricultural laborer's duties which include, but is not limited to, disposal of used pesticide containers on a farm, scouting, and flagging; or
  (4) plants, cultivates, grows, harvests, detassels, rogues, or treats seeds or seed plants of an agricultural or horticultural commodity.
(b) The definition of agricultural laborer does not include:
  (1) farm and ranch laborers working solely with livestock;
  (2) persons working solely in the retail sales component of a business, such as salespersons, brokers, and marketing personnel;
  (3) office workers, cooks, maintenance workers, security personnel, and nonresident management, except for purposes of a gross annual payroll determination, unless their job performance routinely involves potential exposure to a covered pesticide chemical;
  (4) licensed commercial applicators and their employees in the normal circumstances where such an applicator is applying pesticides to the crop of some other entity. Employees of licensed commercial applicators working on an agricultural establishment owned or operated by that applicator are included within the definition of "agricultural laborer"; or
  (5) workers involved in mechanical harvesting in which there is no substantial contact with the treated crop and where the relevant reentry interval has expired.

Source Note: The provisions of this §8.3 adopted to be effective February 14, 1989, 14 TexReg 617; amended to be effective July 5, 1994, 19 TexReg 4814; amended to be effective February 13, 2023, 48 TexReg 655