Which Salaried Employees Are Exempt From Overtime

After my last blog post giving the basics on salaried employees rights to overtime compensation I did not specifically address the exempt categories as it would have required more time and space than the main point of the blog to explain.

The first thing to understand about the exemptions is they are all statutory - you can find a link to the complete list Here (Opens a link in new window to a CA Government Site).  However upon careful inspection you will find it is a little more complicated than it might appear at first glance.

Categorical Exemptions
There a few groups of people who are entirely excluded by their industry including:
Employees in the computer software field, Employees of any state, or local government ,Outside Salespersons (Not as simple of a concept as it sounds), Family relations i.e. Parent, Spouse, child., National Service Programs like Americorp. and such other industry's as Taxi Cab Drivers, and Irrigators.  This list is not exhaustive there are more categorical exemptions and if you are curious the link provided above contains them all.


Executive, Administrative, and Professional Exemptions
I like to think of these as the catchall exemption, once you take out the categorical ones, many of the people left might be in an executive, administrative or professional role for their employer.  At first glance it seems they might just swallow everyone else up and make the widely distributed idea that salaried employees don't receive overtime pay seem true.  So before I begin to look at each exemption on its own keep one important thing in mind:  The courts will weigh these factors against the Employer, not the Employee.  What that means roughly is that it is the burden on the Employer to prove you are whatever classification they say you are, and mere job titles will not suffice actual day to day duties would be used to determine if you meet any of the following tests.

Executive Exemption
- Manager of the enterprise, department, or subdivision.
- Customarily and Regularly directs the work of two or more other employees.
- With the authority to hire/fire OR whose opinion on such matters as well as promotions will be given particular weight.
-Customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgement
-And is primarily engaged with the above listed duties.

Administrative Exemption
-Performs office or non-manual work directly related to management policies or business operations, or Performs in the administration of a school system or department within the system in work directly related to the academic instruction or training carried on.
-Customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgement
-Regularly and directly assists a proprietor, or a fellow employee who is employed in a bona fide executive or administrative capacity or who performs under general supervise specialized or technical work who executes under general supervision special assignments and tasks
-Primarily engaged in the above duties.

Professional Exemption
This categorically exempts the following professions if you are licensed by CA and engaged in the practice of: Law, Medicine, Dentistry, Optometry, Architecture, Engineering, Teaching, or Accounting
It also exempts the so called Learned or Artistic Professions.  Learned professions are those requiring advanced knowledge gained by prolonged eduction, not to be confused with a general eduction, or an apprenticeship.  Artistic Professions are those whose work is original and creative in a recognized field of art, and the work reflects the invention, imagination, or talent of the employee or work that is essential to the above work. 
Either profession type must also produce work that is intellectual and varied in character so that whatever is produced or whatever result is accomplished cannot simply be described by the number of hours it took to complete. (As opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical, or physical work).
Customarily and regularly exercised discretion and independent judgment in the duties above.

These three exemptions all raise the bar rather high for an employer to claim all their employees fall within one of these groups.  Just imagine how many managers at stores spend more than half their time just working normal shifts.  Or how many administrative assistants have no discretion in their duties and either wait for instruction or call to ask for authorization for any substantial decision.  Or how many people in the learned professions spend the overwhelming majority of their time following standard operating procedures.  These categories are not very easy to satisfy they are all specialized persons with a lot of authority and independence which is a stark difference from the situation that many salaried employees in California face.