[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: 29CFR541.105]

[Page 185-186]
 
                             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. 541.105  Two or more other employees.

    (a) An employee will qualify as an ``executive'' under Sec. 541.1 
only if he customarily and regularly supervises at least two full-time 
employees or the equivalent. For example, if the ``executive'' 
supervises one full-time and two part-time employees of whom one works 
morning and one, afternoons; or four part-time employees, two of whom 
work mornings and two afternoons, this requirement would be met.
    (b) The employees supervised must be employed in the department 
which the ``executive'' is managing.
    (c) It has been the experience of the divisions that a supervisor of 
a few as two employees usually performs nonexempt work in excess of the 
general 20-percent tolerance provided in Sec. 541.1.
    (d) In a large machine shop there may be a machine-shop supervisor 
and two assistant machine-shop supervisors. Assuming that they meet all 
the other qualifications Sec. 541.1 and particularly that they are not 
working foremen, they should certainly qualify for the exemption. A 
small department

[[Page 186]]

in a plant or in an office is usually supervised by one person. Any 
attempt to classify one of the other workers in the department as an 
executive merely by giving him an honorific title such as assistant 
supervisor will almost inevitably fail as there will not be sufficient 
true supervisory or other managerial work to keep two persons occupied. 
On the other hand, it is incorrect to assume that in a large department, 
such as a large shoe department in a retail store which has separate 
sections for men's, women's, and children's shoes, for example, the 
supervision cannot be distributed among two or three employees, 
conceivably among more. In such instances, assuming that the other tests 
are met, especially the one concerning the performance of nonexempt 
work, each such employee ``customarily and regularly directs the work of 
two or more other employees therein.''
    (e) An employee who merely assists the manager or buyer of a 
particular department and supervises two or more employees only in the 
actual manager's or buyer's absence, however, does not meet this 
requirement. For example, where a single unsegregated department, such 
as a women's sportswear department or a men's shirt department in a 
retail store, is managed by a buyer, with the assistance of one or more 
assistant buyers, only one employee, the buyer, can be considered an 
executive, even though the assistant buyers at times exercise some 
managerial and supervisory responsibilities. A shared responsibility for 
the supervision of the same two or more employees in the same department 
does not satisfy the requirement that the employee ``customarily and 
regularly directs the work of two or more employees therein.''