2nd Circuit Narrowly Interprets the Professional Exemption to Overtime Provisions of the FLSA
On November 12, 2009, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court decision granting summary judgment in favor of an employee. The case was Young v. Cooper Cameron Corp.. Young alleged that his employer willfully misclassified him as exempt from the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and he also claimed that it hired him into an exempt position while giving him the work of a non-exempt employee.
Young originally applied as a Mechanical Designer, a non-exempt hourly position that requires experience but no college degree. The employer hired him for a position that paid $62,000 annually and required 12 years of engineering-type experience but no college degree. According to the employer, the salaried position fell under the “professional” exemption to the FLSA.
In defense to the claim that the violation was willful, the employer cited research it performed prior to classifying the position as exempt. However, the court found that classification of Young himself and not the position was what mattered. Hiring Young into an exempt position to perform non-exempt work undermined their argument.
Additionally, the Court found that while the nature of the position was technical and required experience, the intention of the law was to focus on highly educated professionals. According to the Court, “[t]he typical symbol of the professional training and the best prima facie evidence of its possession is, of course, the appropriate academic degree, and in these professions an advanced academic degree is a standard (if not universal) prerequisite.” It concluded that “[i]f a job does not require knowledge customarily acquired by an advanced educational degree… then, regardless of the duties performed, the employee is not an exempt professional under the FLSA”
For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Unpaid Overtime Practice, click here.
