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Show I SociSecurIty i SOCIAL SECURITY FOR FARM WORKERS j "I want to do what's right for J Frank Harvey. He's worked for : me for a lonj? time he's a good ! farm hand and an honest family i man." i It was George Wilson, operator 1 of the XX Ranch, talking to the j manager of his local social security j office. What Wilson wanted to know was whether Harvey's farm work : would count toward old-age and j survivors insurance. I The answer Wilson got applies to tens of thousands of other Frank Harveys who earn a livelihood by agricultural work, so let's tell it here as if you are that farm j worker. 1 Before you become eligible for social security credit as a farm laborer, you must first work a full "calendar quarter" for one employer. em-ployer. (A "calendar quarter" consists of the three consecutive months beginning on January 1, April 1, July 1, or October 1.) i You must remain in the employ of the same employer throughout j this first or "qualifying calendar j quarter," although you do not s necessarily have to do farm work j , for him. Nor is it necessary that you work any particular number f of days, or for a certain amount of wages. s You do not receive any social security credit for your earnings from farm work during that period, but the work during the period i qualifies you so that you can get ( social security credit for further j work for the same employer. During the next 3-month period you must be employed by the same farmer on a full-time basis, you i must earn at least $50 in cash wages, and you must perform ag-j ag-j ricultural work on at least 60 days. (Full time means the prevailing ) work arrangement for that type of work in your community.) If you are ill and cannot work ( on certain days, if you report for j work and are excused for the en- i tire day or part of the day, if weather prevents you from work- ; ing, or even if you get a vacation I during that period but get paid ! for these days as if you worked full-time on each of them then these days count for your social 1 security credit. The 60 or more working days do not have to be consecutive days or in consecutive weeks. If you have met this regularity test, and have been paid cash wages of at least $r0 for your agricultural work for this farm operator during j that second quarter, your cash ; wages will be credited to your social ! security account. The word "cash" is stressed because wages in kind rent, meals, a share in the harvest har-vest are not counted toward social security benefits. Only the wages you receive in cash (or checks, etc.) count. Your cash earnings in subsequent calendar quarters also will count as long as you remain in the employ of this same farm operator and perform agricultural work on the same basis for at least 60 days. Now, let's suppose that a time comes when you are not paid for as many as 60 different days of agricultural work by your employer in a certain calendar quarter. You will get social security credit for your earnings in this quarter if your cash wages are as much as $50. Your failure to do farm work for as many as 60 days may or may not break your continuity of employment. This continuity will not be broken, for example, if you do agricultural work for less than 60 days and then work for the same employer in some other capacity during the rest of the quarter. In that case, you could meet the 60 day-$50 test in the following quarter quar-ter for the same operator. You could earn social security credits without a break. On the other hand, your failure to earn cash wages for as many as 60 days of farm work may be because be-cause you lost or gave up your job; or your farm work may be of a seasonal nature. A calendar quarter quar-ter may come when it will not be possible for your employer to pay you for as many as 60 days of farm work or to keep you in his employ continuously doing some nonagri-cultural nonagri-cultural work. In that case, even if you meet the 60 day-$50 test in the following calendar quarter you will not earn social security credit for that work. You must spend another qualifying quarter of continuous employment, either with the same farm operator or another one before your agricultural agricul-tural work could again count toward to-ward social security benefits. Frank Harvey does not have this problem. He is regularly employed by George Wilson on a full-time basis, calendar quarter after calendar cal-endar quarter the year around. In every quarter he is paid well over $50 for at least 60 different days of work. Harvey is a typical example of a farm worker who is consistently building old-age and survivors insurance in-surance protection for himself and for his family. As Wilson said to the social security office interviewer: inter-viewer: "I want to do what's right for Frank Harvey." Wilson now understands just what to do. Four times a year, he reports the cash wages paid to his worker, and pays the 3 percent social so-cial security tax; one half of this tax he deducts from Harvey's cash wages; Wilson's contribution is an equal amount. He sends the reports, re-ports, together with the tax to the collector of internal revenue. These cash wages are credited to Harvey's social security account. In old age, or in case of his untimely un-timely death, this farm worker and his dependent family have the protection pro-tection of social security. FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY Social Security Administration J Bureau of Old-Age & Survivors j Insurance |