Agriculture Law Attorneys Michigan

Generally speaking, nearly all employment in Michigan is covered by the Workers’ Compensation Disability Act. This would include every employer, public or private, and every employee, unless otherwise exempted.

More specifically, the Act applies to:

• All private employers, other than agricultural employers, who regularly employ three or more employees at one time.
• All private employers, other than agricultural employers, who regularly employ less than three employees if at least one of them has been regularly employed by that same employer for 35 or more hours per week or 13 weeks or longer during the preceding 52 weeks.
• All agricultural employers of three or more regular employees paid hourly wages or salaries, and not paid on a piecework basis, who are employed 35 or more hours per week by that same employer for 13 or more consecutive weeks during the preceding 52 weeks. Coverage shall apply only to such regularly employed employees. The average weekly wage for such an employee shall be deemed to be the weeks worked in agricultural employment divided into the total wages which the employee has earned from all agricultural occupations during the 12 calendar months immediately preceding the injury, and no other definition pertaining to average weekly wage shall be applicable.
• All agricultural employers of one or more employees who are employed 35 or more hours per week by that same employer for five or more consecutive weeks shall provide for such employees in accordance with rules established by the director of the Bureau, medical and hospital coverage for all personal injuries arising out of and in the course of employment suffered by such employees not otherwise covered by this Act. The provision of such medical and hospital coverage shall not affect any rights of recovery that an employee would otherwise have against an agricultural employer and such right of recovery shall be subject to any defense the agricultural employer might otherwise have.

No person shall be considered an employee of an agricultural employer if the person is a spouse, child, or other member of the employer’s family, residing in the home or on the premises of the agricultural employer.

All other agricultural employers shall be exempt from the provisions of the Michigan Workers’ Disability Compensation Act.

In certain situations, agricultural employees are treated differently from other employees otherwise covered by the Michigan Workers’ Disability Compensation Act.

Agricultural employers are exempted under certain circumstances from coverage and/or insurance requirements of the Workers’ Disability Compensation Act. However, agricultural employers may choose to voluntarily provide coverage for its employees by purchasing a policy of workers’ disability compensation insurance.

Agricultural employees not otherwise covered by the Act and whose employers have not voluntarily assumed insurance coverage, may have the right to sue their employers in tort if the employee can establish negligence on behalf of the employer with regard to the employee’s injury.

Even in those situations where the agricultural employer has voluntarily provided insurance coverage for its employees by purchasing a policy of workers’ disability compensation insurance, the injured employee may not be bound by the exclusive remedy provisions of the Act but instead may have a remedy for an intentional tort committed by the employer or its agents. An intentional tort shall exist only when an employee is injured as a result of a deliberate act of the employer and the employer specifically intended an injury. An employer shall be deemed to have intended to injure if the employer had actual knowledge that an injury was certain to occur and willfully disregarded that knowledge. The issue of whether an act was an intentional tort shall be a question of law for the court.

Our Practice

The law firm of Bleakley Cypher has defense counsel with competence and experience in the counsel and litigation defense of agricultural employers and/or its carriers in connection with claims arising under the Michigan Workers’ Disability Compensation Act as well as claims grounded in common law or tort remedies.

Client Focus

The law firm has represented carriers in this area including the Farm Bureau Insurance Company, Hastings Mutual Insurance Company, as well as self-insured agricultural employers including Cherry Growers, Inc.

Contacting Our Attorneys

To contact an attorney about your specific needs as a Michigan agriculture provider – call our Grand Rapids, Michigan, Law Offices at: 616-774-2131 or contact us online.