FLSA Administrative and Executive Exemptions: Avoiding, Auditing and Correcting Misclassifications

Description

Wage and hour lawsuits are one of the most significant workplace liability risks for employers, and settling or losing a wage and hour action is expensive. The FLSA’s “white collar” exemption categories are fertile ground for litigation, including class action lawsuits.

The administrative exemption leads to numerous disputes due to its many gray areas. Whether a position qualifies as exempt depends on a fact-intensive examination of the role of the position in the employer’s business, the amount of discretion and independent judgment an employee exercises and the areas in which the employee exercises that discretion and independent judgment. The executive exemption also requires a case-by-case analysis; employees with “manager” title are not necessarily exempt from FLSA requirements. Companies must avoid employment practices that jeopardize otherwise legitimate exempt classifications and cause the loss of the exemption for an entire category of employees.

Listen as our authoritative panel of employment attorneys provides an in-depth analysis of the murky administrative and executive FLSA exemptions and the position classifications and industries most likely to be challenged by employees. Learn what counsel to employers must do to ensure that these white collar classifications withstand legal scrutiny and what practices can jeopardize the exemptions.