The professional exemption covers three sub-categories, and the learned professional is the one most classifiers encounter first. It rests on the idea that some work requires advanced knowledge that can only come from a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
- The learned professional must perform work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning.
- That knowledge must come from a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
- The FLSA use of professional is not the same as the PATCO professional category.
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Understanding the distinction between FLSA's learned professional and the classification system's professional designation is critical, because they do not always line up.
The Three Professional Sub-Categories
The professional exemption is divided into three sub-categories: the learned professional, the creative professional, and the computer professional. Each has its own test and each is evaluated separately. The learned professional is the focus here.
Advanced Knowledge Requirement
To qualify, an employee's primary duty must involve work requiring advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning, acquired through a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction. In practice that means a professional field that requires a degree of some sort. Work that can be learned at the high school level does not satisfy the standard.
Intellectual in Character
The work must be predominantly intellectual in character, meaning it involves thinking rather than using the hands. It must require consistent exercise of discretion and judgment, and it must use advanced knowledge to analyze, interpret, or draw conclusions from varied facts and circumstances.
Discretion and Judgment Are Different Here
Under the learned professional test, the exercise of discretion and judgment refers to applying the professional advanced knowledge acquired through specialized instruction. It does not include matters of significance. Matters of significance are relevant only to the administrative exemption. Keeping these two tests separate is one of the most important things a classifier can do.
Fields That Qualify
Examples of fields that typically meet the learned professional standard include:
- Law, medicine, and pharmacy.
- Theology, accounting, and engineering.
- Teaching and various sciences such as astrophysics and marine biology.
Similar Occupations That Do Not Qualify
Occupations that are not in the field of learning but happen to have a positive education requirement are not included, because they do not match the definition of advanced knowledge in a field of science or learning. A positive education requirement alone is not enough.
FLSA Professional Is Not PATCO Professional
When looking at general schedule positions, the classifier should not rely on the classification designation of professional. The P in PATCO, which stands for professional, administrative, technical, clerical, and other, does not always equate to learned professional under FLSA. The Contract Specialist series (1102) is a clear example: it is treated as a professional occupation under classification, but it is not a professional occupation under FLSA, because its positive education requirement is not an advanced specialized academic degree. The classifier has to hold these two concepts apart to avoid a wrong determination.
