Affirming a highly-publicized 2012 decision from Southern District of New York Judge Colleen McMahon, the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled last week that audit associates employed by “Big Four” accountancy KPMG qualified for the learned professional exemption from overtime under the FLSA. Pippins v. Kpmg Llp, 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS
advanced knowledge
Southern District Judge McMahon: Junior Accountants Are Exempt “Professionals”
FLSA litigation generally moves from industry-to-industry, and, in the most recent wave of litigation, one of the hardest hit industries has been the accounting profession, particularly the “big four” accounting firms, which have been subjected to large-scale challenges of their classification of junior accountants as exempt. Typically, these individuals hold accounting degrees and…
District Judge Finds Therapists to be Exempt Professionals
The FLSA “learned” professional exemption requires an individual to perform work requiring advance knowledge in a field of science or learning, and that such knowledge customarily be acquired through prolonged academic instruction. Challenges to the applicability of this exemption often arise in the healthcare industry relating to positions outside the classically recognized professions, e.g.…
New York Federal Court Upholds Classification Of Funeral Director As Exempt Learned Professional
The highly technical requirements of the FLSA’s learned professional exemption often result in findings that employees traditionally considered to be professionals are non-exempt. In order to satisfy the exemption, the employee must utilize advance knowledge that is “customarily acquired through prolonged academic instruction” when performing their primary duties In a new decision highlighting this analysis (as well as…
Federal Court Rejects Application of Professional Exemption to Caseworkers
In yet another wage-and-hour decision with the potential to disrupt longstanding practices within an industry, a federal court in Florida has ruled that the FLSA’s “learned professional” exemption does not apply to a group of caseworkers providing child protection services for an state-authorized agency. Talbott, et al v. Lakeview Center, 06-cv-378 (N.D. Fla. February…