September 2014

By Pamela L. Vartabedian and Justin T. Curley

Unlike its two conformist siblings—the licensed professional and learned professional exemptions—the “creative professional” exemption is an artsy rebel that does not depend on an employee’s professional field, advanced knowledge, or educational degree. Determining whether an employee meets the creative professional exemption involves a fact-specific inquiry regarding the exact nature of the work performed by the employee.

Who is an exempt creative professional?

Federal law: To qualify as an exempt creative professional under federal law, the employee must be compensated at least $455 per week and the employee’s “primary duty” must be the performance of work that requires invention, imagination, originality, or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.

California law: The California standard differs from the federal standard, and requires that the employee (1) receive a salary of no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment (currently equivalent to $37,440 per year), (2) spend more than 50% of the time performing work requiring invention, imagination, originality, or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor, and (3) regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment in the performance of the job duties.

Just how creative must the work be?

Whether an employee is exempt as a creative professional turns on the extent of the invention, imagination, originality, or talent that the employee exercises. For example:
Continue Reading Let’s Get Creative: The Creative Professional Exemption

By: Emily Schroeder 

In a recent blog post, we discussed how recent California judicial court decisions may erode the once-solid foundation of traditional incentive pay systems. Specifically, Armenta v. Osmose and Bluford v. Safeway held that while a piece rate compensated employees for their “productive time”—time spent actually working on piece-rate tasks—the piece rate did not compensate them for …
Continue Reading Commission Pay Post-Peabody

By John R. Giovannone and Hayley E. Macon

While its administrative and executive siblings often get more publicity, the “outside sales exemption” presents unique challenges for California employers, particularly those that employ large sales teams (even setting aside the administrative challenges surrounding cell phone and other business expenses).

California’s rationale for exempting outside sales personnel from overtime and similar wage-related requirements is straightforward:  “Outside sales[people] have historically been exempt ‘because ‘it’s very difficult to control their hours and working conditions. They set their own time, and they’re on the road, they call on their customers . . . . [R]arely do you know what they are doing on an hour-by-hour basis.’” DLSE Op. Ltr. (September 8, 1998).

But although the outside sales exemption reflects the difficulty of tracking hours in connection with sales activity, California still requires employers to know what hard-to-track sales employees are doing “on an hour-by-hour basis” to defend the application of that exemption.

Who is an exempt outside sales person?

Federal law:  Employees whose “primary duty” is making sales and who regularly work away from the employer’s place of business may be exempt from minimum wage and overtime pay requirements. 20 CFR § 541.500(a). This federal rule is often described as being a  “qualitative” test.

California law:  The California version of the outside sales exemption (Lab. Code § 1171) is peculiar, by federal standards. Like the federal rule, California’s exemption covers sales people who regularly work away from the employer’s place of business. But California imposes an additional “quantitative” requirement: the employee must spend most of the work day away from the employer’s place of business, engaged in sales activities. California also limits the exemption to sales people who sell tangible or intangible items, or obtain orders or contracts for products, services, or use of facilities. IWC Wage Order 1-2001(2)(j). As a result, California’s outside sales exemption is narrower than the federal exemption.

Why is the California definition problematic?
Continue Reading Get out there and sell! The Quantitative/Qualitative Outside Sales Problem

By Kristina Launey and Christie Jackson

On August 30, 2014, California Governor Jerry Brown commented on the Legislature’s passage of a bill entitled the “Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014”: “Tonight, the Legislature took historic action to help hardworking Californians. This bill guarantees that millions of workers – from Eureka to San Diego – won’t lose their jobs or pay just because they get sick.”  The bill, which he signed into law September 10, will require employers statewide to provide paid sick leave.

Though the requirement that employees receive paid sick leave under the Act does not kick in until July 1, 2015, the Act already has employers sweating the law’s myriad of new provisions, mindful of the compliance headaches the new law’s vagaries are certain to bring. If only there were a vaccine… For now, as is often the case, the only sure cure is prevention. Awareness and proactive preparation is the only way to weather the worst of this latest legislative virus.

Employees May Earn 24 Hours of Paid Sick Leave Per Year: The Act grants a right to earn paid sick days to employees who—on or after July 1, 2015—work in California for 30 or more days within a year. Paid sick days will accrue at the rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked. The employee may use the accrued sick days beginning on the 90th day of employment. Exempt employees’ accrual is based on a presumed 40 hour-workweek; except that an exempt employee whose normal workweek is fewer than 40 hours will accrue paid sick days based on that employee’s normal workweek.

An employer can limit use of paid sick days to 24 hours or three days in each year of employment. No accrual or carry over is required if the full amount of leave is received at the beginning of each year. The Act does not require extra paid sick days to be paid by employers whose paid time off policies already provide as many sick days as the Act now requires.

Qualifying Reasons for Use: 
Continue Reading New Sick Pay Law Will Nauseate Some California Employers