Vision Payroll

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2009-4. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).

In this Opinion Letter, the DOL concluded that a convention and visitors services sales manager whose “primary duty is marketing and promotional work to enhance the city as a destination for conventions and visitors” qualified for the administrative exemption to the FLSA. In addition to a salary of at least $455 per week, to qualify for the administrative exemption an employee must perform office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers and a primary component of which involves the exercise of independent judgment and discretion about matters of significance.

The employee in question was primarily involved in marketing, which is considered office or non-manual work. This is true even though the employee performed some support and clerical duties, since this non-exempt work was not the employee’s primary duty. Furthermore, the employee exercised independent judgment and discretion since the employee performed important duties on matters of significant economic import to the city with minimal supervision.

The DOL did not address whether the employee qualified under the professional exemption since the matter was moot.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor recently issued non-Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2008-13NA. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unlike signed Opinion Letters, unsigned Opinion Letters do not “provide a potential good faith reliance defense for violations of the FLSA.”

This Opinion Letter discusses whether daycare instructors who spend a majority of their time teaching qualify as exempt teachers under the FLSA. The Opinion Letter stated “that the daycare center instructors [spent] a majority of their time teaching children between the ages of three and five a curriculum of basic reading, counting, and social skills.” The relevant State Department of Education did not license the daycare centers where the instructors worked, although they were licensed by the state’s Department of Public Welfare. The implication of this distinction is “that the state does not consider the day care centers to be providing educational services.” The Opinion Letter concludes that the instructors do not qualify for the teacher exemption since they do not provide elementary education under the laws of their state.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2008-9. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This Opinion Letter discusses whether instructors in a cosmetology school are teachers who qualify for the professional exemption of the FLSA.

The instructors in the instant case are licensed cosmetologists in addition to being licensed as instructors by their State Board of Cosmetology. The school is licensed by that board and accredited by the National Accrediting Commission of Cosmetology Arts and Sciences. This accreditation qualifies the school as an “educational establishment”. Although the instructors do not have teaching certificates, their primary duty is “teaching and instructing students in cosmetology theory, as well as in the practical part of the curriculum.” This means that the instructors are “teachers of skilled or semi-skilled trades and occupations.” Therefore, the instructors qualify under the professional exemption of the FLSA.

State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.

The US Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued Administrator signed Opinion Letter FLSA2008-7. Although Opinion Letters only apply to the exact set of facts and circumstances presented in each case, they are a valuable aid in understanding current interpretations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This Opinion Letter states that a substitute teacher may qualify for the Professional exemption of the FLSA if the substitute teacher’s primary duty is teaching. Generally, the Professional exemption requires a “knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.” Under the state law at issue, substitute teachers do not need a college degree or teaching certificate if they have a state-issued substitute teaching permit. The DOL concluded that it was not the degree requirements that qualified teachers as learned professionals; indeed the requirements vary widely by state and even school, with no standard minimum qualifications. Since discretion and judgment is required for teaching, substitute teachers whose primary duty is teaching qualify for the exemption. Conversely, substitute teachers whose primary duty is not related to teaching do not qualify for the exemption. State laws may provide rules that are more beneficial to the employee and must be followed. Contact Vision Payroll if you have questions about this Opinion Letter.