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I lost both arms in a farm accident — and we lost the lawsuit because I wasn’t considered an employee
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I lost both arms in a farm accident — and we lost the lawsuit because I wasn’t considered an employee


I grew up working on a family farm and had a catastrophic accident at 18 where I lost both arms.

We later sued for compensation, but lost—not because of the injury, but because I wasn’t considered an employee.

There was nothing on paper. No documentation showing I was working as a paid employee, even though I was doing real farm work.

I was compensated in ways a lot of farm kids are—things like a vehicle, gas, and insurance—but none of that counted because it wasn’t documented.

This clip explains it better, but I’m curious how people here handle this now.

Do you document your kids working on the farm at all, or is it still mostly informal?



by JohnThompsonND

3 Comments

  1. Cannabis_Breeder

    I’m sorry for your experience and loss.

    This one is easy for me; the kids have 0 interest in helping with anything farm related and I don’t force them to 😭

    Edit: It would make sense to have some paper trail for them though if we had things like farm insurance

  2. PeachesNSteam

    Thank you for sharing your experience. We have three kids and they’re too young to be considered workers but we will definitely consider doing this in the coming years.

  3. SpotIsALie

    Were you not able to file a civil suite as a non-employee? There would be negligence on the farms part and you would still be entitled to damages- especially as a minor. It shouldnt matter if youre an employee or not.

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