29 CFR 780.808: Who may qualify for the exemption generally.

The exemption applies to “any employee engaged in” ginning of cotton. This means that the exemption may apply to an employee so engaged, no matter by whom he is employed. Employees of the gin operator, of an independent contractor, or of a farmer may come within the exemption in any workweek when all other conditions of the exemption are met. To come within the exemption, however, an employee's work must be an integral part of ginning of cotton, as previously described. The courts have uniformly held that exemptions in the Act must be construed strictly to carry out the purpose of the Act. (See § 780.2, in subpart A of this part.) No operation in which an employee engages in a place of employment where cotton is ginned is exempt unless it comes within the meaning of the term “ginning.”