[NHCOLL-L:2718] Re: Collections managers question

[White, Rich]

Mark,

There are a couple of problems here.  Basically FLSA doesn't care what
other institutions require for the position of CM; what matters is what
your institution requires.  Do you require a degree? Do you require any
specific certifications (not that CM has such, unless, for example you
deal with liquid presevatives and require the CM to have a 40-hour
Hazardous Materials certification ala OSHA, or a cert in Transportation
of Hazardous Materials if you are shipping such out or receiving it into
the facility.  Here is what the Dept of Labor uses as a "test" for
Learned Professional:

**************
Learned Professional

Primary duty of performing office or non-manual work requiring knowledge
of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily
acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction,
but which also may be acquired by alternative means such as an
equivalent combination of intellectual instruction and work experience.
*************8

Elsewhere, the DOL says:

*****************
Professional Exemption

To qualify for the learned professional employee exemption, all of the
following tests must be met:

The employee must be compensated on a salary or fee basis (as defined in
the regulations) at a rate not less than $455 per week;
The employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring
advanced knowledge, defined as work which is predominantly intellectual
in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise
of discretion and judgment;
The advanced knowledge must be in a field of science or learning; and
The advanced knowledge must be customarily acquired by a prolonged
course of specialized intellectual instruction.
******************

You apply this test to your desciption of the job, and don't worry about
what anyone else is doing.  All of this is in relation to which
employees get classified as hourly, and who gets classified as "exempt".
I find that HR departments generally do a horrible job of interpreting
new standards like this, generally over interpreting them in the
mistaken belief that they are protecting the organization.  Stick to
your guns - tell them you'll send a letter to the DOL asking for an
interpretation, which the DOL does all the time.



Richard S. White, Jr.
Director
International Wildlife Museum
4800 West Gates Pass Road
Tucson, Arizona 85745
520-629-0100 extension 252
Fax: 520-618-3561



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