The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will take effect in December 2016, and the various ways of categorizing employees can lead to confusion about which employees are entitled to the overtime pay provisions of the said law.
Melanie Lockwood Herman, executive director of the Nonprofit Management Risk Center, cited US Department of Labor (DOL) rules governing employee classifications.
Among these are:
* Administrative: refers to personnel whose tasks involve the “performance of office or non-manual work directly related to the management or general business operations of the employer or the employer’s customers;” also includes positions where the primary duty covers the use of discretion and independent judgment.
* Professional: this classification is defined by the DOL as “work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment;” Positions in which the advanced knowledge required for the position is in a field of science or learning; and, Positions in which the advanced knowledge required for the position is acquired through a “prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.”
