FLSA Administrative Exemption
HRinVA
52 Posts
Can work such as (the supervision of) housekeeping/security/trades (carpenters, electricians etc.) be considered "directly related to management or general business operations"? I've read the list of examples in the regs but I'm still not sure.
Comments
"Mere supervision" is not sufficient. In addition, the supervisory employee must have "management" as the "primary duty" of the job. The FLSA Regulations contain a list of typical management duties. These include (in addition to supervision):
interviewing, selecting, and training employees;
setting rates of pay and hours of work;
maintaining production or sales records (beyond the merely clerical);
appraising productivity; handling employee grievances or complaints, or disciplining employees;
determining work techniques;
planning the work;
apportioning work among employees;
determining the types of equipment to be used in performing work, or materials needed;
planning budgets for work;
monitoring work for legal or regulatory compliance;
providing for safety and security of the workplace.
Determining whether an employee has management as the primary duty of the position requires case-by-case evaluation. A "rule of thumb" is to determine if the employee is "in charge" of a department or subdivision of the enterprise (such as a shift). One handy clue might be to ask who a telephone inquiry would be directed to if the called asked for "the boss." Typically, only one employee is "in charge" at any particular time.
Hope this helps.
Well, I'm not sure if a team of trades workers constitues "a customarily recognized department or subdivision of the enterprise"?
These positions do interview; direct the work of employees; maintaining records for use in supervision or control; conduct performance appraisals; plan and schedule work; determine the techniques to be used; apportion the work among the employees; investigate workplace accidents and address safety issues. They also inspect work done by our employees or contractors. So although I would consider them supervisors, they perform many of the "managerial" responsibilities included in the regs.
They do not have budget responsibility and they don't have the authority to hire and fire...although we are a government entity and really only the Divison Directors have this authority, which is delegated to them from the head of our organization. Promotions are handled by competitive processes (jobs are posted). The supervisors have input as references and they conduct the performance appraisals, which are taken into consideration in considering status changes.
So, what do you think?
I think the one thing you probably still need to consider is how much supervision the supervisor has - if the supervisor has very little discretion in directing the work of employees and in fact is supervised to the extent that he/she is not the true boss, then you may not be able to classify the supervisor as exempt.
That said, if the supervisor falls within an exemption, it would appear that it would have to be this one rather than the administrative one.