An employee holding a position involving some degree of managerial authority but not enough to qualify for the executive exemption, is sometimes classified as exempt under the administrative exemption. This classification is premised on, among other duties, these individuals making decisions concerning workflow, prioritizing tasks, and communicating with customers. The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, building on its prior jurisprudence, last week held a manager who performed these duties was exempt under the administrative exemption. Adams v. Bsi Mgmt. Sys. Am., 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 14395 (11th Cir. July 17, 2013).
The position at issue in Adams was a “Supply Chain Security Program Manager” who was “responsible for assessing, documenting and incorporating multiple country level compliance programs into a single compliance system for international supplier assessments.” The Court held the administrative exemption applied and found her work with a single client was not “production” work (because she served as the point of contact for clients) and she did, despite her denial, exercise discretion and independent judgment (because she identified the tasks that needed to be performed and ensured that projects moved forward on her own).
The volume of FLSA litigation in Florida federal courts continues to produce a large body of case law. Employers in jurisdictions where there is little authority on many FLSA topics likely will find themselves analyzing Eleventh Circuit precedent to inform their compliance determinations.