EFFECTIVE DATE NOTE: Paragraphs (c) and (d) in § 541.313 were revised at 46 FR 3015, Jan. 13, 1981. In accordance with the President's Memorandum of January 29, 1981 (46 FR 11227, Feb. 6, 1981), the effective date was postponed indefinitely at 46 FR 11972, Feb. 12, 1981.

The text of paragraphs (c) and (d) set forth above remains in effect pending further action by the issuing agency. The text of the postponed regulation appears below. $541.313 Fee basis.

(c) Examples of the adequacy of certain fee payments follow. For example, whether a fee payment amounts to payment at a rate of not less than $280 per week to a professional employee or at a rate of not less than $250 per week to an administrative employee can ordinarily be determined only after the time worked on the job has been determined. In determining whether payment is at the rate specified in the regulations in subpart A of this part the amount paid to the employee will be tested by reference to a standard workweek of 40 hours. Thus compliance will be tested in each case of a fee payment by determining whether the payment is at a rate which would amount to at least $280 per week to a professional employee or at a rate of not less then $250 per week to an administrative employee if 40 hours were worked.

(d) The following examples will illustrate the principle stated above:

(1) A singer receives $50 for a song on a 15-minute program (no rehearsal time is involved). Obviously the requirement will be met since the employee would earn $280 at this rate of pay in far less than 40 hours.

(2) An artist is paid $150 for a picture. Upon completion of the assignment, it is determined that the artist worked 20 hours. Since earnings at this rate would yield the artist $300 if 40 hours were worked, the requirement is met.

(3) An isslustrator is assigned the illustration of a pamphlet at a fee of $180. When the job is completed, it is determined that the employee worked 60 hours. If the employee worked 40 hours at this rate, the employee would have earned only $120. The fee payment of $180 for work which required 60 hours to complete therefore does not meet the requirement of payment at a rate of $280 per week and the employee must be considered nonexempt. It follows that if in the performance of this assignment the illustrator worked in excess of 40 hours in any week, overtime rates must be paid. Whether or not the employee worked in excess of 40 hours in any week, records for such an employee would have to be kept in accordance with the regulations covering

records for nonexempt employees (part 516 of this chapter).

§ 541.314 Exception for physicians, lawyers, and teachers.

(a) A holder of a valid license or certificate permitting the practice of law or medicine or any of their branches, who is actually engaged in practicing the profession, or a holder of the requisite academic degree for the general practice of medicine who is engaged in an internship or resident program pursuant to the practice of his profession, or an employee employed and engaged as a teacher in the activity of imparting knowledge, is excepted from the salary or fee requirement. This exception applies only to the traditional professions of law, medicine, and teaching and not to employees in related professions which merely serve these professions.

(b) In the case of medicine:

(1) The exception applies to physicians and other practitioners licensed and practicing in the field of medical science and healing or any of the medical specialities practiced by physicians or practitioners. The term physicians means medical doctors including general practitioners and specialists, and osteopathic physicians (doctors of osteopathy). Other practitioners in the field of medical science and healing may include podiatrists (sometimes called chiropodists), dentists (doctors of dental medicine), optometrists (doctors of optometry or bachelors of science in optometry).

(2) Physicians and other practitioners included in paragraph (b)(1) of this section, whether or not licensed to practice prior to commencement of an internship or resident program, are excepted from the salary or fee requirement during their internship or resident program, where such a training program is entered upon after the earning of the appropriate degree required for the general practice of their profession.

(c) In the case of medical occupations, the exception from the salary or fee requirement does not apply to pharmacists, nurses, therapists, technologists, sanitarians, dietitians, social workers, psychologists, psychome

trists, or other professions which service the medical profession.

§ 541.315 Special proviso for high salaried professional employees.

(a) Except as otherwise noted in paragraph (b) of this section, the definition of "professional" contains a special proviso for employees who are compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate of at least $250 per week exclusive of board, lodging, or other facilities. Under this proviso, the requirements for exemption in § 541.3 (a) through (e) will be deemed to be met by an employee who receives the higher salary or fees and whose primary duty consists of the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning, or work as a teacher in the activity of imparting knowledge, which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment, or consists of the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, or talent in a recognized field of artistic endeavor. Thus, the exemption will apply to highly paid employees employed either in one of "learned" professions or in an "artistic" profession and doing primarily professional work. If an employee qualifies for exemption under this proviso, it is not necessary to test the employee's qualifications in detail under § 541.3 (a) through (e).

the

(b) In Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa the second proviso of § 541.3(e) applies to those "professional" employees (other than employees of the Federal government) who are compensated on salary or fee basis of not less than $200 per week.

[40 FR 7093, Feb. 19, 1975]

a

EFFECTIVE DATE NOTE: Section 541.315 was revised at 46 FR 3015, Jan. 13, 1981. In accordance with the President's Memorandum of January 29, 1981 (46 FR 11227, Feb. 6, 1981), the effective date was postponed indefinitely at 46 FR 11972, Feb. 12, 1981.

The text of § 541.315 set forth above remains in effect pending further action by the issuing agency. The text of the postponed regulation appears below.

§ 541.315 Special proviso for high salaried professional employees.

(a) Except as otherwise noted in paragraph (b) of this section, the definition of "professional" contains a special proviso for employees who are compensated on a salary or fee basis at a rate of at least $320 per week beginning February 13, 1981 and $345 per week beginning February 13, 1983, exclusive of board, lodging, or other facilities. Under this proviso, the requirements for exemption in § 541.3 (a) through (e) will be deemed to be met by an employee who receives the higher salary or fees and whose primary duty consists of the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning, or work as a teacher in the activity of imparting knowledge, which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment, or consists of the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, or talent in a recognized field of artistic endeavor. Thus, the exemption will apply to highly paid employees employed either in one of the "learned" professions or in an "artistic" profession and doing primarily professional work. If an employee qualifies for exemption under this proviso, it is not necessary to test the employee's qualifications in detail under § 541.3 (a) through (e).

(b) In Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa the second proviso of § 541.3(e) applies to those "professional" employees (other than employees of the Federal Government) who are compensated on a salary or fee basis of not less than $260 per week beginning February 13, 1981 and $285 per week beginning February 13, 1983.

(b) Whose hours of work of a nature other than that described in paragraph (a) (1) or (2) of this section do not exceed 20 percent of the hours worked in the workweek by nonexempt employees of the employers: Provided, That work performed incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales or soliciations, including incidental deliveries and collections, shall not be regarded as nonexempt work.

§ 541.501 Making sales or obtaining orders.

(a) Section 541.5 requires that the employee be engaged in: (1) Making sales within the meaning of section 3(k) of the Act, or (2) obtaining orders or contracts for services or for the use of facilities.

(b) Generally speaking, the divisions have interpreted section 3(k) of the Act to include the transfer of title to tangible property, and in certain cases, of tangible and valuable evidences of intangible property. Thus sales of automobiles, coffee, shoes, cigars, stocks, bonds, and insurance are construed as sales within the meaning of section 3(k). (Section 3(k) of the Act states that "sale" or "sell" includes any sale, exchange, contract to sell, consignment for sale, shipment for sale, or other disposition.)

(c) It will be noted that the exempt work includes not only the sales of commodities, but also "obtaining orders or contracts for services or for the use of facilities for which a consideration will be paid by the client or customer." "Obtaining orders or *** for the use of facilities" includes the selling of time on the radio, the solicitation of advertising for newspapers and other periodicals and the solicitation of freight for railroads and other transportation agencies.

customer's own linens as well as those who obtain orders for the rental of the laundry's linens.

(e) The inclusion of the word "services" is not intended to exempt persons who, in a very loose sense, are sometimes described as selling "services". For example, it does not include persons such as servicemen even though they may sell the service which they themselves perform. Selling the service in such cases would be incidental to the servicing rather than the reverse. Nor does it include outside buyers, who in a very loose sense are sometimes described as selling their employer's "service" to the person from whom they obtain their goods. It is obvious that the relationship here is the reverse of that of salesman-customer.

§ 541.502 Away from his employer's place of business.

(a) Section 541.5 requires that an outside salesman be customarily and regularly engaged "away from his employer's place or places of business". This requirement is based on the obvious connotation of the word "outside" in the term "outside salesman". It would obviously lie beyond the scope of the Administrator's authority that "outside salesman" should be construed to include inside salesmen. Inside sales and other inside work (except such as is directly in conjunction with and incidental to outside sales and solicitations, as explained in paragraph (b) of this section) is nonexempt.

(b) Characteristically the outside salesman is one who makes his sales at his customer's place of business. This is the reverse of sales made by mail or telephone (except where the telephone is used merely as an adjunct to personal calls). Thus any fixed site, whether home or office, used by a salesman as a headquarters or for telephonic solicitation of sales must be construed as one of his employer's places of business, even though the employer is not in any formal sense the owner or tenant of the property. It should not be inferred from the foregoing that an outside salesman loses his exemption by displaying his sam

(d) The word "services" extends the exemption as outside salesmen to employees who sell or take orders for a service, which is performed for the customer by someone other than the person taking the order. For example, it includes the salesman of a typewriter repair service who does not himself do the repairing. It also includes otherwise exempt outside salesmen who obtain orders for the laundering of the

ples in hotel sample rooms as he trav・els from city to city; these sample rooms should not be considered as his employer's places of business.

§ 541.503 Incidental to and in conjunction with sales work.

Work performed “incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales or solicitation" includes not only incidental deliveries and collections which are specifically mentioned in § 541.5(b), but also any other work performed by the employee in furthering his own sales efforts. Work performed incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales or solicitations would include, among other things, the writing of his sales reports, the revision of his own catalog, the planning of his itinerary and attendance at sales confer

ences.

§ 541.504 Promotion work.

not

(a) Promotion work is one type of activity often performed by persons who make sales, which may or may not be exempt work, depending upon the circumstances under which it is performed. Promotion men are exempt as "outside salesmen." (This discussion relates solely to the exemption under § 541.5, dealing with outside salesmen. Promotion men who receive the required salary and otherwise qualify may be exempt as administrative employees.) However, any promotional work which is actually performed incidental to and in conjunction with an employee's own outside sales or solicitations is clearly exempt work. On the other hand, promotional work which is incidental to sales made, or to be made, by someone else cannot be considered as exempt work. Many persons are engaged in certain combinations of sales and promotional work or in certain types of promotional work having some of the characteristics of sales work while lacking others. The types of work involved include activities in borderline areas in which it is difficult to determine whether the work is sales or promotional. Where the work is promotional in nature it is sometimes difficult to determine whether it is inci

dental to the employee's own sales work.

(b)(1) Typically, the problems presented involve distribution through jobbers (who employ their own salesmen) or through central warehouses of chainstore organizations or cooperative retail buying associations. A manufacturer's representative in such cases visits the retailer, either alone or accompanied by the jobber's salesman. In some instances the manufacturer's representative may sell directly to the retailer; in others, he may urge the retailer to buy from the jobber.

(2) This manufacturer's representative may perform various types of promotional activities such as putting up displays and posters, removing damaged or spoiled stock from the merchant's shelves or rearranging the merchandise. Such persons can be considered salesmen only if they are actually employed for the purpose of and are engaged in making sales or contracts. To the extent that they are engaged in promotional activities designed to stimulate sales which will be made by someone else the work must be considered nonexempt. With such variations in the methods of selling and promoting sales each case must be decided upon its facts. In borderline cases the test is whether the person is actually engaged in activities directed toward the consummation of his own sales, at least to the extent of obtaining a commitment to buy from the person to whom he is selling.. If his efforts are directed toward stimulating the sales of his company generally rather than the consummation of his own specific sales his activities are not exempt. Incidental promotional activities may be tested by whether they are "performed incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales or solicitations" or whether they are incidental to sales which will be made by someone else.

(c)(1) A few illustrations of typical situations will be of assistance in determining whether a particular type of work is exempt or nonexempt under § 541.5. One situation involves a manufacturer's representative who visits the retailer for the purpose of obtaining orders for his employer's product, but transmits any orders he obtains to

the local jobber to be filled. In such a case the employee is performing sales work regardless of the fact that the order is filled by the jobber rather than directly by his own employer. The sale in this instance has been "consummated" in the sense that the salesman has obtained a commitment from the customer.

(2) Another typical situation involves facts similar to those described in the preceding illustration with the difference that the jobber's salesman accompanies the representative of the company whose product is being sold. The order in this instance is taken by the jobber's salesman after the manufacturer's representative has done the preliminary work which may include arranging the stock, putting up a display or poster, and talking to the retailer for the purpose of getting him to place the order for the product with the jobber's salesman. In this instance the sale is consummated by the jobber's salesman. The work performed by the manufacturer's representative is not incidental to sales made by himself and is not exempt work. Moreover, even if in a particular instance the sale is consummated by the manufacturer's representative it is necessary to examine the nature of the work performed by the representative to determine whether his promotional activities are directed toward paving the way for his own present and future sales, or whether they are intended to stimulate the present and future sales of the jobber's salesman. If his work is related to his own sales it would be considered exempt work, while if it is directed toward stimulating sales by the jobber's representative it must be considered nonexempt work.

(3) Another type of situation involves representatives employed by utility companies engaged in furnishing gas or electricity to consumers. In a sense these representatives are employed for the purpose of "selling" the consumer an increased volume of the product of the utility. This "selling" is accomplished indirectly by persuading the consumer to purchase appliances which will result in a greater use of gas or electricity. Different methods are used by various companies. In some instances the utility representa

tive after persuading the consumer to install a particular appliance may actually take the order for the appliance which is delivered from stock by his employer, or he may forward the order to an appliance dealer who then delivers it. In such cases the sales activity would be exempt, since it is directed at the consummation of a specific sale by the utility representative, the employer actually making the delivery in the one case, while in the other the sale is consummated in the sense that the representative obtains an order or commitment from the customer. In another type of situation the utility representative persuades the consumer to buy the appliance and he may even accompany the consumer to an appliance store where the retailer shows the appliance and takes the order. In such instances the utility representative is not an outside salesman since he does not consummate the sale or direct his efforts toward making the sale himself. Similarly, the utility representative is not exempt as an outside salesman if he merely persuades the consumer to purchase an appliance and the consumer then goes to an appliance dealer and places his order.

(4) Still another type of situation involves the company representative who visits chainstores, arranges the merchandise on shelves, replenishes stock by replacing old with new merchandise, consults with the manager as to the requirements of the store, fills out a requisition for the quantity wanted and leaves it with the store manager to be transmitted to the central warehouse of the chainstore company which later ships the quantity requested. The arrangement of merchandise on the shelves or the replenishing of stock is not exempt work unless it is incidental to and in conjunction with the employee's own outside sales. Since the manufacturer's representative in this instance does not consummate the sale nor direct his efforts toward the consummation of a sale (the store manager often has no authority to buy) this work must be counted as nonexempt.