[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2005]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR541.3]

[Page 179]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 541_DEFINING AND DELIMITING THE EXEMPTIONS FOR EXECUTIVE, 
 
                      Subpart A_General Regulations
 
Sec. 541.3  Scope of the section 13(a)(1) exemptions.

    (a) The section 13(a)(1) exemptions and the regulations in this part 
do not apply to manual laborers or other ``blue collar'' workers who 
perform work involving repetitive operations with their hands, physical 
skill and energy. Such nonexempt ``blue collar'' employees gain the 
skills and knowledge required for performance of their routine manual 
and physical work through apprenticeships and on-the-job training, not 
through the prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction 
required for exempt learned professional employees such as medical 
doctors, architects and archeologists. Thus, for example, non-management 
production-line employees and non-management employees in maintenance, 
construction and similar occupations such as carpenters, electricians, 
mechanics, plumbers, iron workers, craftsmen, operating engineers, 
longshoremen, construction workers and laborers are entitled to minimum 
wage and overtime premium pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, and 
are not exempt under the regulations in this part no matter how highly 
paid they might be.
    (b)(1) The section 13(a)(1) exemptions and the regulations in this 
part also do not apply to police officers, detectives, deputy sheriffs, 
state troopers, highway patrol officers, investigators, inspectors, 
correctional officers, parole or probation officers, park rangers, fire 
fighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians, ambulance 
personnel, rescue workers, hazardous materials workers and similar 
employees, regardless of rank or pay level, who perform work such as 
preventing, controlling or extinguishing fires of any type; rescuing 
fire, crime or accident victims; preventing or detecting crimes; 
conducting investigations or inspections for violations of law; 
performing surveillance; pursuing, restraining and apprehending 
suspects; detaining or supervising suspected and convicted criminals, 
including those on probation or parole; interviewing witnesses; 
interrogating and fingerprinting suspects; preparing investigative 
reports; or other similar work.
    (2) Such employees do not qualify as exempt executive employees 
because their primary duty is not management of the enterprise in which 
the employee is employed or a customarily recognized department or 
subdivision thereof as required under Sec. 541.100. Thus, for example, 
a police officer or fire fighter whose primary duty is to investigate 
crimes or fight fires is not exempt under section 13(a)(1) of the Act 
merely because the police officer or fire fighter also directs the work 
of other employees in the conduct of an investigation or fighting a 
fire.
    (3) Such employees do not qualify as exempt administrative employees 
because their primary duty is not the performance of work directly 
related to the management or general business operations of the employer 
or the employer's customers as required under Sec. 541.200.
    (4) Such employees do not qualify as exempt professionals because 
their primary duty is not the performance of work requiring knowledge of 
an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired 
by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction or the 
performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or 
talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor as 
required under Sec. 541.300. Although some police officers, fire 
fighters, paramedics, emergency medical technicians and similar 
employees have college degrees, a specialized academic degree is not a 
standard prerequisite for employment in such occupations.