[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: 29CFR541.115]

[Page 192-194]
 
                             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. 541.115  Working foremen.

    (a) The primary purpose of the exclusionary language placing a 
limitation on the amount of nonexempt work is to

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distinguish between the bona fide executive and the ``working'' foreman 
or ``working'' supervisor who regularly performs ``production'' work or 
other work which is unrelated or only remotely related to his 
supervisory activities. (The term ``working'' foreman is used in this 
subpart in the sense indicated in the text and should not be construed 
to mean only one who performs work similar to that performed by his 
subordinates.)
    (b) One type of working foreman or working supervisor most commonly 
found in industry works alongside his subordinates. Such employees, 
sometimes known as strawbosses, or gang or group leaders perform the 
same kind of work as that performed by their subordinates, and also 
carry on supervisory functions. Clearly, the work of the same nature as 
that performed by the employees' subordinates must be counted as 
nonexempt work and if the amount of such work performed is substantial 
the exemption does not apply. (``Substantial,'' as used in this section, 
means more than 20 percent. See discussion of the 20-percent limitation 
on nonexempt work in Sec. 541.112.) A foreman in a dress shop, for 
example, who operates a sewing machine to produce the product is 
performing clearly nonexempt work. However, this should not be confused 
with the operation of a sewing machine by a foreman to instruct his 
subordinates in the making of a new product, such as a garment, before 
it goes into production.
    (c) Another type of working foreman or working supervisor who cannot 
be classed as a bona fide executive is one who spends a substantial 
amount of time in work which, although not performed by his own 
subordinates, consists of ordinary production work or other routine, 
recurrent, repetitive tasks which are a regular part of his duties. Such 
an employee is in effect holding a dual job. He may be, for example, a 
combination foreman-production worker, supervisor-clerk, or foreman 
combined with some other skilled or unskilled occupation. His 
nonsupervisory duties in such instances are unrelated to anything he 
must do to supervise the employees under him or to manage the 
department. They are in many instances mere ``fill-in'' tasks performed 
because the job does not involve sufficient executive duties to occupy 
an employee's full time. In other instances the nonsupervisory, 
nonmanagerial duties may be the principal ones and the supervisory or 
managerial duties are subordinate and are assigned to the particular 
employee because it is more convenient to rest the responsibility for 
the first line of supervision in the hands of the person who performs 
these other duties. Typical of employees in dual jobs which may involve 
a substantial amount of nonexempt work are:
    (1) Foremen or supervisors who also perform one or more of the 
``production'' or ``operating'' functions, though no other employees in 
the plant perform such work. An example of this kind of employee is the 
foreman in a millinery or garment plant who is also the cutter, or the 
foreman in a garment factory who operates a multiple-needle machine not 
requiring a full-time operator;
    (2) Foremen or supervisors who have as a regular part of their 
duties the adjustment, repair, or maintenance of machinery or equipment. 
Examples in this category are the foreman-fixer in the hosiery industry 
who devotes a considerable amount of time to making adjustments and 
repairs to the machines of his subordinates, or the planer-mill foreman 
who is also the ``machine man'' who repairs the machines and grinds the 
knives;
    (3) Foremen or supervisors who perform clerical work other than the 
maintenance of the time and production records of their subordinates; 
for example, the foreman of the shipping room who makes out the bills of 
lading and other shipping records, the warehouse foreman who also acts 
as inventory clerk, the head shipper who also has charge of a finished 
goods stock room, assisting in placing goods on shelves and keeping 
perpetual inventory records, or the office manager, head bookkeeper, or 
chief clerk who performs routine bookkeeping. There is no doubt that the 
head bookkeeper, for example, who spends a substantial amount of his 
time keeping books of the same general nature as those kept by the other 
bookkeepers, even though his books are confidential in nature or

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cover different transactions from the books maintained by the under 
bookkeepers, is not primarily an executive employee and should not be so 
considered.