Overtime Wage Claims
Professional Exemption
The FLSA exempts certain salaried employees from its overtime wage requirements, including certain "professional" employees.
To qualify for the professional employee exemption, all of the following tests must be met:
- The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in the regulations) at a rate not less than $684 per week;
- The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;
- The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and
- The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
As defined by the DOL, “primary duty” means the principal, main, major or most important duty that the employee performs. Determination of an employee’s primary duty must be based on all the facts in a particular case, with the major emphasis on the character of the employee’s job as a whole.
“Work requiring advanced knowledge” means work that is predominantly intellectual in character, requiring the consistent exercise of discretionand judgment, as opposed to work involving routine manua or physical work. A professional employee generally uses the advanced knowledge to analyze, interpret or make deductions from varying facts or circumstances. Advanced knowledge cannot be attained at the high school level.
Fields of science or learning include law, medicine, theology, accounting, actuarial computation, engineering, architecture, teaching, sciences and other occupations that have a recognized professional status.
Additionally, there is a specific professional exemption for "creative professionals" whose the primary duty lies in the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor. This exemption could include fields such as music, writing, artists and acting.