Exemptions from Minimum Wage and Overtime

The following categories of employees are exempt from both minimum wage and overtime pay requirements of the FLSA:

  1. "White collar exempt" employees - executive, administrative, professional, computer professional, and outside sales representative employees - Section 213(a)(1) and 213(a)(17) (the latter section, applicable to computer professionals, specifies a minimum hourly rate of $27.63 per hour, which applies if the employee is not paid a minimum salary of $684 per week)

  2. Employees of certain amusement or recreational establishments - Section 213(a)(3)

  3. Employees involved in cultivation, propagation, catching, harvesting, or first processing at sea of aquatic forms of animal or vegetable life - Section 213(a)(5)

  4. Certain agricultural employees of small farms or family-owned farms - Section 213(a)(6) - does not apply to farms operating in conjunction with other establishments, the combined business volume of which exceeds $10,000,000

  5. Employees principally engaged in the range production of livestock - Section 213(a)(6)

  6. Employees exempt under special certificates issued under Section 214 - Section 213(a)(7)

  7. The 213(a)(7) exemption encompasses the following categories:

    1. Learners - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - Section 214(a)

    2. Apprentices - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - Section 214(a)

    3. Messengers - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - Section 214(a)

    4. Students employed in retail or service establishments - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - significant limitations on hours - Section 214(b)(1)

    5. Students employed in agriculture - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - in compliance with child labor laws - Section 214(b)(2)

    6. Students in institutions of higher education who are employed by their institutions - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - significant limitations on hours - Section 214(b)(3)

    7. Handicapped workers - under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor - Section 214(c)

    8. Students of elementary or secondary schools who are employed by their schools as part of the curriculum - in compliance with child labor laws - Section 214(d)

  8. Employees of certain small local newspapers - Section 213(a)(8)

  9. Switchboard operators for certain independently-owned public telephone companies - Section 213(a)(10)

  10. Seamen on vessels other than American vessels - Section 213(a)(12)

  11. Certain babysitters or companions for the elderly - Section 213(a)(15)

  12. Criminal investigators paid on an availability pay basis - Section 213(a)(16)

  13. Computer professionals - Section 213(a)(17) (also noted at the beginning of this list) [note: to get the overtime exemption, the employer must pay the employee at least $27.63 per hour, i.e., a "minimum" wage, for all hours worked, or else a true salary of at least $684 per week.]

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