One of the exemptions to the overtime pay requirements is the "learned professional" exemption, which applies to jobs requiring "advanced knowledge customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction." The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled recently that the "learned professional" exemption did not apply to social workers in Solis v. State of Washington DSHS, No 10-35590 (9th Cir., 9/9/11).
Key to whether the "learned professional" exemption applies is the degree to which a required course of instruction is directly related to the job's duties, the Court asserted, citing to several authorities including the following:
- Dybach v. State of Florida Department of Corrections, 942 F.2d 1562 (11th Cir.1991), which held that probation officers, who were required to have a bachelor's degree in "any field," did not qualify for the “learned professional” exemption despite a requirement of one year of prior experience in law enforcement or corrections.
- Fife v. Harmon, 171 F.3d 1173 (8th Cir. 1999), where the Eighth Circuit held that aviation operation specialists did not meet the "learned professional" exemption, because the employees acquired theiradvanced knowledge “from a general academic education or from an apprenticeship” and not from a “prolonged course of specialized study.”
- Vela v. City of Houston, 276F.3d 659 (5th Cir. 2001), where the court held that emergency medical technicians and paramedics, who were required to complete 200 to 880 hours of didactic training, clinical experience, and field internship, did not satisfy the education prong of the “learned professional” exemption.
The Ninth Circuit ruled that the social workers for the state of Washington did not meet the "learned professional" exemption, because the education requirements for the position were not sufficiently and specifically tailored to the job duties, as the court explained:
An educational requirement that may be satisfied by degrees in fields as diverse as anthropology, education, criminal justice, and gerontology does not call for a “course of specialized intellectual instruction.” Moreover, in this case the net is cast even wider by the acceptance of applicants with other degrees as long as they have sufficient coursework in any of these fields.
