[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR541.103]

[Page 184]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 541_DEFINING AND DELIMITING THE TERMS ``ANY EMPLOYEE EMPLOYED IN A 
 
                        Subpart B_Interpretations
 
Sec. 541.103  Primary duty.

    A determination of whether an employee has management as his primary 
duty must be based on all the facts in a particular case. The amount of 
time spent in the performance of the managerial duties is a useful guide 
in determining whether management is the primary duty of an employee. In 
the ordinary case it may be taken as a good rule of thumb that primary 
duty means the major part, or over 50 percent, of the employee's time. 
Thus, an employee who spends over 50 percent of his time in management 
would have management as his primary duty. Time alone, however, is not 
the sole test, and in situations where the employee does not spend over 
50 percent of his time in managerial duties, he might nevertheless have 
management as his primary duty if the other pertinent factors support 
such a conclusion. Some of these pertinent factors are the relative 
importance of the managerial duties as compared with other types of 
duties, the frequency with which the employee exercises discretionary 
powers, his relative freedom from supervision, and the relationship 
between his salary and the wages paid other employees for the kind of 
nonexempt work performed by the supervisor. For example, in some 
departments, or subdivisions of an establishment, an employee has broad 
responsibilities similar to those of the owner or manager of the 
establishment, but generally spends more than 50 percent of his time in 
production or sales work. While engaged in such work he supervises other 
employees, directs the work of warehouse and delivery men, approves 
advertising, orders merchandise, handles customer complaints, authorizes 
payment of bills, or performs other management duties as the day-to-day 
operations require. He will be considered to have management as his 
primary duty. In the data processing field an employee who directs the 
day-to-day activities of a single group of programers and who performs 
the more complex or responsible jobs in programing will be considered to 
have management as his primary duty.