Employers can minimize their exposure to costly wage and hour lawsuits by making sure that their employees are properly classified. In a BLR webinar titled "Exempt or Nonexempt? How To Avoid the Misclassification Mistakes You Simply Can't Afford To Make," Roy P. Salins, Esq., discussed the criteria that must be met for an employee to qualify for the professional exemption and the computer professional exemption.

Professional Exemption

Here are the criteria for this exemption:

• Paid a salary of not less than $455 per week ($23,660 annually)
• Primary duty is work requiring advanced knowledge, which is work that is predominately intellectual in character and requires the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.
• Advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning and customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
• Advanced knowledge generally means that the employee analyzes, interprets, or makes deductions from varying facts or circumstances.
• Fields of science or learning include law, medicine, theology, accounting, actuarial computation, engineering, etc.

Note: This exemption applies to a very limited subset of employees engaged in the defined professional activities.

Computer Professional Exemption

To qualify for the computer professional exemption, an employee must be regularly paid a salary of not less than $455 per week ($23,660 annually) or on an hourly basis of not less than $27.63 per hour.

His or her primary duty must be one of the following:

• Application of system-analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users to determine hardware, software or systems functional specifications, or
• Design, development, documentation, analysis, creation, testing, or modification of computer systems or programs, or
• A combination of the above duties requiring the same level of skill.

Significantly, this exemption does not include:

• Employees engaged in the manufacture or repair of computer hardware and related equipment
• Employees whose work is highly dependent upon computer-aided design software (e.g., engineers and drafters)

Roy P. Salins, Esq., is a senior associate Labor and Employment Practice Area of Vedder Price PC. Based out of the firm's New York office, Salins's practice includes all aspects of litigation in federal and state courts, administrative agencies, and in arbitrations before FINRA and the AAA. Salins also devotes a large part of his practice to counseling clients in all areas of labor and employment law, compliance with federal and state nondiscrimination and wage statutes, and issues relating to reduction in force, employee compensation, benefits, staffing, hiring, discipline and discharge. He can be contacted at rsalins@vedderprice.com.