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The California Administrative Exemption
The California Administrative Exemption is applicable to employees that provide “administrative work” that relates to supporting the business itself. This work is in contrast to production work which applies to products or services that a company provides. A clarification regarding production work that bears mentioning is that when a company’s product is actually a service, that service is deemed to be “the product.”
As stated above, the California Administrative Exemption applies to employees who assist, support, or administrate the business activities of a California employer or its end user customers. To further elaborate, assisting or supporting the business itself would include such responsibilities as planning, negotiating, representing the company, advising management, business research and control, formulating management’s policies or having the responsibility to execute these management policies.
In order to be legally classified as California Administrative Exempt, the employee must perform his/her duties with only general supervision and must work directly with an exempt employee.
California employers must prove compliance with the Administrative Exemption in ALL of the following ways. If a California employer is not able to prove all of the elements that are outlined below, then the employee is actually “non-exempt” under California Administrative Exemption law.
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The employee spends over half (50%) of the weekly work time engaged in exempt administrative duties. |
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The employee regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment while completing his/her duties. |
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The employee must be full-time and salaried and the monthly salary must be at least two times California’s minimum wage for full-time employees, or $2773.33 per month. |
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The employee does one of the following: directly and regularly assists the business’s owner or another exempt employee, executes special tasks and assignments under only general supervision, or performs work along specialized or technical lines requiring special knowledge or training while under only general supervision. |
While the California Administrative Exemption sounds straightforward enough to apply in practical terms, sound legal advice from an experienced California labor law attorney can prove valuable. Administrative work must affect the business operations to a substantial degree and this interpretation may require qualified legal representation to assert a claim for improper classification. This exemption classification is not always as straightforward as it may appear on its face. Our California labor law attorneys are adept at reviewing potential employer violations of the California Administrative Exemption. Our labor law firm also offers a free claim evaluation of your legal matter.
Contact us today if you feel your California employer is in violation of California labor law as it relates to the Administrative Exemption classification. We can help you determine if you are properly classified by discussing your legal matter during a free case evaluation.
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