learned professional exemption

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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.…

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…

The FLSA’s learned professional exemption provides an exemption from overtime for employees who have academic credentials in a field of “science or learning customarily acquired prolonged academic instruction” and who utilize this formal educational training in the performance of their job duties. Typical examples include doctors, lawyers, and certified public accountants, and doctors and lawyers need…

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…