Occupations Exempt from Employment

Among the occupations excluded from the definition of "Employment" under the Law are the following:

1. Labor engaged in the gathering and processing of seafood for the fresh market.
2. Casual labor not in the course of the employing unit’s trade or business.
3. Agricultural and domestic service which does not meet the provisions of Section 41-27-120.
4. ‘Agricultural labor’ as defined in Section 41- 27-120 when performed by students who are enrolled and regularly attending classes at a secondary school or at an accredited college, university or technical school and also when performed by part-time persons who do not qualify as students hereunder but who at the conclusion of their agricultural labor would not qualify for any benefits under the provisions of the South Carolina Employment Security Law.
5. Service performed by an individual in the employ of his son, daughter or spouse.
6. Service performed by a child under the age of eighteen in the employ of his father or mother.
7. Service performed in the employ of the United States Government except that to the extent the Congress shall permit.
8. Service performed in the employ of a government entity as an elected official; as a member of a legislative body or a member of the Judiciary of a State or political  subdivision, a member of the State or National Guard, a member of a nontenured policy making position in which the performance of duties ordinarily does not require over eight hours per week.
9. Employment covered by the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (Interstate Railroad).
10. Some employees of non-profit organizations (see page 2 "Special Coverage").
11. Employment for an organization exempt from Federal income tax under Section 501(A) or under Section 521 of the Federal Internal Revenue Code of 1954, if the remuneration for such service is less than fifty dollars.
12.  
    1. Service performed in the employ of a school, college, or university, if such service is performed:
       1. By a student who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes at such school, college or university, or
       2. By the spouse of such a student, if such spouse is advised, at the time such spouse commences to perform such service that
          1. the employment of such spouse to perform such service is provided under a program to provide financial assistance to such student by such school, college, or university, and
          2. such employment will not be covered by any program of unemployment insurance.
    2. Service performed by an individual who is enrolled at a nonprofit or public educational institution which normally maintains a regular faculty and curriculum and normally has a regular organized body of students in attendance at the place where its educational activities are conducted as a student in a full-time program, taken for credit at such institution, which combines academic instruction with work experience, if such service is an integral part of such program, and such institution has so certified to the employer, except that this subparagraph shall not apply to service performed in a program established for or on behalf of an employer or group of employers;
    3. Service performed in the employ of a hospital, if such service is performed by a patient of the hospital.
13.  
    1. Service performed in the direct employ of a church or convention or association of churches, or an organization which is operated primarily for religious purposes and which is operated, supervised, controlled, or principally supported by a church or convention or association of churches; or
    2. Service performed by a duly ordained, commissioned, or licensed minister of a church in the exercise of his ministry or by a member of a religious order in the exercise of duties required by such order; or
    3. Service performed in a facility conducted for the purpose of carrying out a program of rehabilitation for individuals whose earning capacity is impaired by age or physical or mental deficiency or injury or providing remunerative work for individuals who because of their impaired physical or mental capacity cannot be readily absorbed by an individual receiving such rehabilitation or remunerative work; or
    4. Service performed prior to January 1, 1978, for a hospital in a state prison or other state correctional institution by an inmate of the prison or correctional institution and after December 31, 1977, by an inmate of a custodial or penal institution.
    5. Service performed as a part of an unemployment work-relief or work-training program assisted or financed in whole or in part by any federal agency of a state or political subdivision thereof, by an individual receiving such work-relief or training, unless a federal law, rule or regulation mandates unemployment insurance coverage to individuals in a particular work-relief to work-training program.
        
14. Service performed by an individual under the age of eighteen in the delivery or distribution of newspapers or shopping news, not including delivery or distribution to any point for subsequent delivery or distribution;
15. Service performed by an individual as a student nurse in the employ of a hospital or a nurses’ training school by an individual who is enrolled and is regularly attending classes in a nurses’ training school chartered or approved pursuant to state law, and service performed as an intern in the employ of a hospital by an individual who has completed a four-year course in a medical school chartered and approved pursuant to state law;
16. Service performed by an individual for an insurance agent or as an insurance solicitor, if all such service performed by such individual for such employment is performed for remuneration solely by way of commission;
17. Service performed by an individual for an employer as a real estate salesman or agent, if all such service performed by such individual for such employer is performed for remuneration solely by way of commission;
18. Service performed in the employ of a foreign government, including service as a counselor or other officer or employee or a non-diplomatic representative.

If an employing unit has any worker who is engaged exclusively in one or more of these excluded occupations, he is not in "employment," and his services are not counted in determining whether the employer is liable for contributions. However, a worker will be considered in covered employment if 50% or more of the services performed during a pay period are in covered employment. No work in any pay period is deemed as being in covered employment if more than 50% of the work is performed in excluded employment.