Office of Human Resources - Compensation & Analytics
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Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Exemption ChecklistS
Professional Exemption | Computer Exemption | Outside Sales Exemption
Executive Exemption
If the following four questions can be answered YES, then the duties meet the executive exemption test:
- Does the employee receive a salary of at least $455 per week?
- Is the employee's primary duty the management of a customarily recognized department or subdivision of the company/institution?
- Primary duty generally means the principal or most important duty performed
- Consider percentage of time spent performing similar duties as subordinates (40% threshold)
- Do the duties include the supervision of two or more full time employees every week (at least 80 hours of subordinate time)?
- Joint or shared supervision is not sufficient
- Supervision in the absence of the regular manager is insufficient
- Do the duties include authority to hire or fire assigned subordinates OR are recommendations concerning hiring, firing, advancement, promotion or other changes given particular weight?
Administrative Exemption
If questions 1, 2 and 3 or questions 1 and 4 are all answered YES, then the duties meet the administrative exemption test:
- Does the employee receive a salary of at least $455 per week?
- Does the primary duty consist of the performance of office or non-manual work DIRECTLY related to management policies or general business operations of the employer?
- Administrative operations include: Tax, Finance, Accounting, Budgeting, Auditing, Insurance, Quality Control, Purchasing, Procurement, Advertising, Marketing, Research, Safety & Health, Personnel Management, Human Resources, Employee Benefits, Employee Relations, Public Relations, Government Relations, Computer Network, Internet & Database Administration and/or Legal/Regulatory Compliance
- Duties do not include routine or structure tasks such as bookkeeping, data tabulation or clerical duties
- Work must be of substantial importance such as affecting development of policies or responsibilities to execute policy
- Importance of high-level administrative duties are greater than other types of duties
- Frequently exercises discretionary decision making and is relatively free from supervision
- Do the duties include work requiring the exercise of discretion and judgment with respect to matters of significance as opposed to daily routine decisions?
- Discretion and judgment includes authority to: commit the employer in matters of significant financial impact; waive/deviate from established policies/procedures without prior approval; negotiate and bind the company; participate in long or short term business objective planning, represent the institution in handling complaints, arbitrating disputes or resolving grievances
- Independent judgment/discretion involves comparison and evaluation of possible courses of action and having the authority to make an independent choice, free from immediate direction with respect to matters of significance; does not include use of manuals, guidelines or software packages to make determinations
- Discretion and independent judgment is not: determining whether specific standards have been satisfied, even if some leeway is allowed; determining which procedure to follow; developing recommendations based on facts conforming with a known standard; screening applicants or conducting interview to determine satisfaction of minimum qualifications
- Does primary duty consist of the performance of office or non manual work, directly related to academic instruction or training in an educational institution?
- Academic administration mean work directly related to the academic operations and functions such as administration of curriculum, examination of quality and methods of instructions, measurement of learning potential and achievement, maintenance of academic and grading standards, and other aspects of a teaching program
Professional Exemption
(If questions 1, 2 and 3 OR 1 and 4 are answered YES, then duties meet the professional exemption test):
- Does the employee receive a salary of at least $455 per week?
- Do the duties require knowledge of an advanced type in a recognized field of science or learning?
- Knowledge which cannot be attained at the high school (or equivalent) level
- Customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual study (in some cases may be acquired by a combination of intellectual study and work experience)
- Professions covered by exemption include: law, medicine, nursing, accounting, actuarial computation, engineering, education, and various types of physical, chemical and biological sciences
- Do the duties include work requiring CONSISTENT exercise of discretion and judgment?
- Do primary duties consist of activities requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor?
- Recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor includes: music, writing, acting, and graphic arts; work requires intelligence, diligence and accuracy with broad leeway to develop an original work product
- If limitations to latitude, in terms of controlling final work product or primarily require fact reporting/gathering and not creative or original analysis/interpretation, then it does not satisfy this standard
Computer Exemption
If questions 1 and 2 are answered YES, then the work meets the computer exemption test:
- Does the employee receive a salary of at least $455 per week OR an hourly rate of not less than $27.63 per hour?
- Does the primary duty consists of performance of work that requires application of one of the following:
- Systems analysis including consulting with users to determine hardware, software or system functional specifications
- Design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing or modification of computer systems or programs
- Design, documentation, testing, creation or modification of computer programs related to operating systems
- Combination of duties stated above, all of which require the same level of skill
- expertise and skill to work independently
- Does not apply to positions involving operation, repair or maintenance of computer hardware, networks or equipment
Outside Sales Exemption
If the following two questions are answered YES, then the work meets the outside sales exemption test:
- Does the work customarily and regularly involves making sales or obtaining orders or contracts for products or services primarily away from the employer’s place of business?
- Sales generally made at the customer’s place of business
- Fixed site used as headquarters for sales or telephone solicitations is regarded as employers place of business
- Temporary fixed locations (i.e. hotel rooms) are not considered employer’s place of business even if paid for by employer
- Outside sales indications are:
- Significant compensation on a commission basis
- Special sales training
- Little or no direct or constant supervision in performing daily tasks
- Title or contract reflecting sales involvement
- Are the primary duties outside sales?
- Non-exempt work includes all time devoted to completing a sales transaction
- Exempt work includes time devoted to sales calls, travel time to complete sales calls and directly related activities such as preparation of proposals or promotional material, sales report completion, arranging trips and logistics and similar tasks supporting personal sales calls