/cdklawyers.com// 09/26/2012
Keith Clouse, a Dallas labor and employment lawyer, frequently advises clients regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act. He works with employers to ensure that they are in compliance with this federal statute. One area where employers may misstep concerns the classification of exempt workers.
Under the FLSA, an employer is required to pay all employees overtime pay, unless an employee is exempt from the statute. While a few employers purposely misclassify workers to avoid their overtime pay obligations, many employers simply do not know how to determine exempt/nonexempt status.
Whether an employee is exempt does not turn on an employee’s job title or whether the employee is paid on a salary basis. Instead, in order for a worker to be exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provisions, the employee must meet certain criteria.
One common exemption is the learned professional employee exemption. To qualify for this exemption:
• The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis at a set rate;
• The employee’s primary duty must be to perform work that requires advanced knowledge (work that is predominantly intellectual in character and that includes the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment);
• The employee’s 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.
To speak to Mr. Clouse or to another Dallas employment law attorney at Clouse Dunn LLP, you may send an email to debra@clousedunn.com or call (214) 239-2705.
Press Release Contact Information:
KEITH A. CLOUSE
Clouse Dunn LLP
214.220.2722
214.220.3833 ( fax)
keith@clousedunn.com
