discretion and independent judgment

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Applicability of the technical FLSA exemptions can sometimes turn on subtle distinctions, a frustrating proposition for FLSA litigants. A new opinion highlights these subtleties, as, on a motion for reconsideration made ahead of a bench trial, a court reversed its earlier ruling denying summary judgment to defendant bank as to the applicability of the administrative…

Applying California’s administrative exemption test, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recently concluded an insurance company properly classified its claims adjusters (who handled and processed disability claims) as exempt from the overtime provisions of the California Labor Code, notwithstanding the clerical duties the adjusters performed and their characterization of their work as…

A Tennessee federal court recently held that a “Print and Archive Vendor Liaison” responsible for coordinating with outside vendors to print and deliver customer invoices qualified for the administrative exemption notwithstanding the employee’s inability to deviate from employer policies or budgets.  See Boaz v. Fed. Express. Corp., 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70342 (W.D. Tenn.…

Employees who support businesses performing office functions are often dubbed “administrative” employees, whether for wage-and-hour purposes or otherwise. The question under the Fair Labor Standards Act is whether they are administratively exempt from overtime. Answering that question in the affirmative, Judge William S. Duffey, Jr. recently found an office worker for an electrical services firm…

To be “administratively” exempt from overtime, in addition to being paid appropriately on a  salary or fee basis, an employee must perform office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of his or her employer, with a primary duty which includes the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with…

The FLSA exemption inquiry is fact-intensive, particularly when the analysis pertains to the so-called “white collar” exemptions, as highlighted by a new decision from the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.  Harper v. Gov’t Emples. Ins. Co., 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 19310 (2d Cir. Oct. 10, 2014).

In Harper, District Judge Leonard…

The exempt status of loan officers continues to make headlines as the Mortgage Bankers Association presses for Supreme Court affirmance of its successful challenge to a DOL opinion regarding the applicability of the administrative exemption to those workers.  A new court decision highlights the fact intensive nature of exemption inquiries, and also the potentially misleading…

Perhaps no single exemption classification under the FLSA has been subject to as much scrutiny, or generated as much inconsistent authority from courts and the United States Department of Labor, as the classification of loan officers in the mortgage banking industry.  In 2013, the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit invalidated the Department of…