Only if the job really is management. Under 29 C.F.R. § 541.100, a manager is exempt only if paid a salary of at least $684 a week, whose primary duty is managing the business or a recognized department, who customarily and regularly directs at least two full-time employees, and whose hiring and firing input carries real weight. Miss one and the exemption fails.
The executive exemption is one of the white-collar exemptions. When it does not fit, employers usually reach for the administrative exemption or the learned professional exemption instead.
DOL Fact Sheet #17B lists the same four elements. The employer has to prove every one of them.
Management “includes, but is not limited to, activities such as interviewing, selecting, and training of employees,” along with setting pay and hours, disciplining, planning the work and controlling the budget. 29 C.F.R. § 541.102. The question is whether that is your main job or something you do now and then. Spending more than 50 percent of your time on exempt work generally meets the primary-duty requirement, though time alone is not decisive. 29 C.F.R. § 541.700(b).
You must direct “two full-time employees or their equivalent.” 29 C.F.R. § 541.104(a). One full-time and two half-time employees count. One assistant does not. Neither does training a new hire or being the “go-to” person on a team. The direction has to be part of the job week in and week out.
If you cannot hire or fire, your recommendations must carry “particular weight,” which “does not include an occasional suggestion with regard to the change in status of a co-worker.” 29 C.F.R. § 541.105. Sitting in on an interview is not enough.
The working supervisor. An employee whose primary duty is “ordinary production work or routine, recurrent or repetitive tasks cannot qualify for exemption as an executive.” 29 C.F.R. § 541.106(a). And “a relief supervisor or working supervisor whose primary duty is performing nonexempt work” does not become exempt by directing others “when, for example, the exempt supervisor is unavailable.” 29 C.F.R. § 541.106(c). A lead who covers for the boss is still a worker.
The assistant manager. An assistant manager who also serves customers can be exempt if management is the primary duty. 29 C.F.R. § 541.106(b). But one who works the floor nearly all day, has no hiring say, and supervises only when the manager is gone points the other way.
A case manager manages cases: clients, files and service plans. A care manager manages a member’s care. Neither usually directs two full-time employees or has a say in hiring. The title does not help the employer: “A job title alone is insufficient to establish the exempt status of an employee.” 29 C.F.R. § 541.2.
When the executive exemption fails, employers usually fall back on the administrative exemption or the learned professional exemption. See our pages on case managers, care coordinators and utilization review, and the overview of all white-collar exemptions.
No. The executive exemption requires a salary of at least $684 a week, management as the primary duty, regular direction of at least two full-time employees, and real input on hiring and firing (29 C.F.R. § 541.100). Fail one and it does not apply.
At least “two full-time employees or their equivalent” (29 C.F.R. § 541.104(a)). Directing them has to be customary and regular, not just filling in when the boss is out.
Sometimes. An assistant manager can do hands-on work and still qualify if management is the primary duty (29 C.F.R. § 541.106(b)). A working supervisor whose primary duty is nonexempt work, and who directs others only occasionally, does not (29 C.F.R. § 541.106(c)).
Your recommendations on hiring, firing, promotion or other status changes must actually matter to the decision. It “does not include an occasional suggestion with regard to the change in status of a co-worker” (29 C.F.R. § 541.105).
Usually not. These jobs manage client cases, not employees. Most have no direct reports and no say in hiring or firing, so they fail the executive test regardless of title (29 C.F.R. § 541.2).
If your title says “manager” but your day says otherwise, we will look at your job description, schedule and pay records at no charge. Siegel Law Group PLLC represents workers — never employers — in FLSA overtime and wage cases. Two related questions come up in most of these matters: how a case gets certified so a whole team can join it, and how far back an overtime claim reaches.
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