To further add to the confusion, there are three categories under which an employer can claim an employee exempt - Executive, Administrative and Professional. Administrative and Professional are the two categories that are most abused by employers.
There have been several cases where folks in the IT industry have sued and won. Most in this industry are classified as exempt under the Professional category, regardless of title or responsibility. Those that have won, have shown that while their skills are indeed specialized, their work frequently consists of repeated, documented procedures - particularly when called after hours for failed systems.
As such, it has been held that they do not meet the criteria laid out for the Professional exemption. That is, they are not working independently using analytical skills specific to a particular problem. Instead, they are following a checklist, often escalating to others once all steps have been followed.
This is often the case with first/second level IT support staff, who are typically the ones carrying the cell phones/pagers after hours, and being forced to be on standby with no pay due to their exempt status. It's also one of the arguments being made in the current class action lawsuit against Apple.
There have been several cases where folks in the IT industry have sued and won. Most in this industry are classified as exempt under the Professional category, regardless of title or responsibility. Those that have won, have shown that while their skills are indeed specialized, their work frequently consists of repeated, documented procedures - particularly when called after hours for failed systems.
As such, it has been held that they do not meet the criteria laid out for the Professional exemption. That is, they are not working independently using analytical skills specific to a particular problem. Instead, they are following a checklist, often escalating to others once all steps have been followed.
This is often the case with first/second level IT support staff, who are typically the ones carrying the cell phones/pagers after hours, and being forced to be on standby with no pay due to their exempt status. It's also one of the arguments being made in the current class action lawsuit against Apple.