[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: 29CFR541.110]

[Page 189-190]
 
                             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. 541.110  Occasional tasks.

    (a) In addition to the type of work which by its very nature is 
readily identifiable as being directly and closely related to the 
performance of the supervisory and management duties, there is another 
type of work which may be considered directly and closely related to the 
performance of these duties. In many establishments the proper 
management of a department requires the performance of a variety of 
occasional, infrequently recurring tasks which cannot practicably be 
performed by the production workers and

[[Page 190]]

are usually performed by the executive. These small tasks when viewed 
separately without regard to their relationship to the executive's 
overall functions might appear to constitute nonexempt work. In reality 
they are the means of properly carrying out the employee's management 
functions and responsibilities in connection with men, materials, and 
production. The particular tasks are not specifically assigned to the 
``executive'' but are performed by him in his discretion.
    (b) It might be possible for the executive to take one of his 
subordinates away from his usual tasks, instruct and direct him in the 
work to be done, and wait for him to finish it. It would certainly not 
be practicable, however, to manage a department in this fashion. With 
respect to such occasional and relatively inconsequential tasks, it is 
the practice in industry generally for the executive to perform them 
rather than to delegate them to other persons. When any one of these 
tasks is done frequently, however, it takes on the character of a 
regular production function which could be performed by a nonexempt 
employee and must be counted as nonexempt work. In determining whether 
such work is directly and closely related to the performance of the 
management duties, consideration should be given to whether it is: (1) 
The same as the work performed by any of the subordinates of the 
executive; or (2) a specifically assigned task of the executive 
employees; or (3) practicably delegable to nonexempt employees in the 
establishment; or (4) repetitive and frequently recurring.