[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: 29CFR541.700]

[Page 198-199]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 541_DEFINING AND DELIMITING THE EXEMPTIONS FOR EXECUTIVE, 
 
           Subpart H_Definitions and Miscellaneous Provisions
 
Sec. 541.700  Primary duty.


    (a) To qualify for exemption under this part, an employee's 
``primary duty'' must be the performance of exempt work. The term 
``primary duty'' means the principal, main, major or most important duty 
that the employee performs. Determination of an employee's primary duty 
must be based on all the facts in a particular case, with the major 
emphasis on the character of the employee's job as a whole. Factors to 
consider when determining the primary duty of an employee include, but 
are not limited to, the relative importance of the exempt duties as 
compared with other types of duties; the amount of time spent performing 
exempt work; the employee's relative freedom from direct supervision; 
and the relationship between the employee's salary and the wages paid to 
other employees for the kind of nonexempt work performed by the 
employee.
    (b) The amount of time spent performing exempt work can be a useful 
guide in determining whether exempt work is the primary duty of an 
employee. Thus, employees who spend more than 50 percent of their time 
performing exempt work will generally satisfy the primary duty 
requirement. Time alone, however, is not the sole test, and nothing in 
this section requires that exempt employees spend more than 50 percent 
of their time performing exempt work. Employees who do not spend more 
than 50 percent of their time performing exempt duties may nonetheless 
meet the primary

[[Page 199]]

duty requirement if the other factors support such a conclusion.
    (c) Thus, for example, assistant managers in a retail establishment 
who perform exempt executive work such as supervising and directing the 
work of other employees, ordering merchandise, managing the budget and 
authorizing payment of bills may have management as their primary duty 
even if the assistant managers spend more than 50 percent of the time 
performing nonexempt work such as running the cash register. However, if 
such assistant managers are closely supervised and earn little more than 
the nonexempt employees, the assistant managers generally would not 
satisfy the primary duty requirement.