Executive Assistant

lhill

Our executive assistant (formerly executive secretary) is exempt. This is under the "administrative" criteria. I'm hearing some dissent as to whether this can qualify as an exempt position. She works for the GM/CEO, Board of Directors, and our attorney who is on site 2 days a week. She interprets policy and makes administrative decisions. What do you think? Is this qualified to be an exempt position, as opposed to a department secretary who is non-exempt?

atrimble

Here's an excerpt from DoL Fact Sheet #17: Exemption for Executive, Administrative, Professional, & Outside Sales Employees Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA):

Administrative Exemption
Applicable to employees who perform office or non-manual work which is directly related to the management policies or general business operations of their employer or their employer's customers, or perform such functions in the administration of an educational establishment; who regularly exercise discretion and judgment in their work; who either assist a proprietor or executive, perform specialized or technical work, or execute special assignments; who receive a salary which meets the requirements of the exemption; and who do not devote more than 20% of their time to work other than that described above (40% in retail and service establishments).

Based on this, I'd think you would want to check two additional items - determine whether she gets paid at least $455 per week (regardless of hours worked), and determine if less than 20% of her work time is doing clerical things.

LivindonSouth

Typically such a position is classified as exempt and passes the test.




Disclaimer: This message is not intended to offend or attack. It is posted as personal opinion. If you find yourself offended or uncomfortable, email me and let me know why.

lhill

She does pass both criteria mentioned by atrimble. I feel more secure now. Thanks.

LivindonSouth

It would be interesting to know who the 'dissent' is coming from. The 'dissenter' may think there's some sort of 'glamour' in exempt status when in reality she's just not getting paid for all the hours she probably works.

lhill

The dissent is from another utility hr who went to a seminar on FLSA and was told that executive assistants do not meet the criteria for exemption under the executive portion. I do not arbitrarily slot someone as exempt, nor do I use the executive definition except when it is truly an executive such as our CEO. Also, I believe they must have been talking about administrative assistants.

crawfod

I believe the main legal issue exempt employees have is when they work a lot of overtime and are not being paid for it. Therefore, they challenge your classification and say they should be non-exempt and thus entitled to overtime pay.

If your EA is working overtime, then your company is benefitting from her being classified as Exempt, but you risk her challenge. If not working OT, then she benefits from the protections that exempt employees have of a full week's pay, versus those only paid for actual hours worked.

If OT is not an issue, you should be okay either way, but to my knowledge non-exempts rarely file FLSA lawsuits claiming they should be exempt.

lhill

Our EA only works overtime when she's preparing for a board meeting, as many of us do. Other than that, she enjoys the liberty of being able to take time off for dr. appointments or leaving early occasionally as other exempts do. She is paid comparable to other department heads. I got a reply from the dissenter who stated that if she did not have the authority to run the department, or the company, she would not qualify as exempt under administrative. I say I can run my department, but can I run the company - not likely!

Linda

LivindonSouth

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 07-28-05 AT 02:25PM (CST)[/font][br][br]Your 'utility hr' who attended a conference and came back an 'expert' is incorrect in her understanding of the FLSA.

She appears to also be incorrect in assuming you used the executive exemption criteria for this employee.