California Labor Law Exemptions: How Do You Define Exempt Employees in California?
According to our California labor laws attorneys, the greatest area of abuse of California state overtime laws is the area of classifying California exempt employees. In simple terms, "California labor law exemptions" are employers' legal defenses to not paying overtime. An important distinction, however, is that the employer must bear the burden of proving this exemption pursuant to the California labor law code in order to prevent recovery of overtime pay. California wage and hour law is complex, and this holds true especially in determining which employees are California exempt employees. State of California overtime laws provide that if an employee is misclassified as exempt, laws relating to overtime in CA permit them to go back up to 4 years and collect their back California overtime pay.
What Are the Various Categories of California Exempt Employees?
Under California wage and hour law, there are three major categories of California exempt employees. These major exemption categories are: the California Professional Exemption, the California Administrative Exemption, and the California Executive Exemption. There are other lesser known categories of exemption such as the California Caregivers Exemption and the California Public Facility Caregivers Exemption.
The California Professional Exemption:
The California labor law Professional Exemption or "Learned or Artistic" Exemption applies to employees who maintain a license to practice a profession (i.e. doctors, lawyers). However, registered nurses, pharmacists, and most school teachers are non-exempt under these laws. Under the professional exemption, California labor laws allow employers to require such employees work without being paid overtime. CA professional exemption regulations are among the easiest to understand since there are few requirements.
California Administrative Exemption:
The State of California Administrative Exemption (also known by employees as “CA administrative exempt”) is slightly more complex to understand, and has to do with the Administrative exempt duties performed by the employee, and whether or not the duties of the employee can pass an “administrative exempt test.” Quite simply, the California Administrative Exemption applies to employees who spend over half their work time assisting the proprietor or other exempt individual in "servicing" a business in matters of significance. A California administrative exempt employee must work directly with an exempt employee or under only general supervision, and administrative work cannot involve making the products or performing services which the employer sells or markets.
California Executive Exemption:
The California Executive Exemption applies to employees who spend over half their work time managing businesses or departments of a business. CA labor law on executive exemptions requires that the following occur to meet the tests for the CA Executive Exemption.
- Manage the entire company or department or subdivision.
- Direct the work of at least 2 subordinates in your department or division.
- Have the power/authority to hire or fire – either directly or indirectly.
- Exercise independent business judgment.
- Spend more than 50% of your time doing the above tasks.
- Be paid at least $640 per week (as of this writing).
California Caregivers Exemption:
This section applies to employees who assist in a person's private home as a caregiver and do not work for a residential care or a private business set up to provide residential care.
If the type of work an employee does is limited to tasks such as showering, toilet use, bathing, and preparing meals then the California caregiver overtime exempt rules may apply. However, if the caregiver is performing tasks such as housecleaning or other tasks not related to client personal care over 20% of the time, it is likely the caregiver is entitled to California overtime pay under caregiver California labor laws.
California Public Facility Caregivers Exemption :
These caregivers do not work in private households and are generally entitled to California overtime pay subject to a few exceptions.
If your employer has classified you as a California exempt employee under one of the standard California exemptions presented above, and you feel this may be incorrect, our California labor law attorneys are available to review your potential claim. For additional information on other California Exemptions, such as the Computer Software Exemption or the Salesperson Exemption, please refer to our site where these are covered in greater detail.
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