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QUESTION: From other surveys I have used, the exempt status of each job was included. Is this not an option?
ERI is often asked to include FLSA "exempt" or "nonexempt" status (for US applications) as part of each position's survey description. We choose not to provide this information via the Assessor Series applications for the following reasons:
| 1. | The exempt or nonexempt status of a job can vary from one company to another based upon the amount of time that an employee spends on exempt and nonexempt job duties. At one company, the job may be exempt, at another, nonexempt. In the same way, ERI survey descriptions will match subscribers' administration scenarios only to a certain extent - the actual duties of the "real life" employees determine exempt/nonexempt status, not the survey description. |
| 2. | Exempt and nonexempt status for a job is not portable from one company to another or from one survey to another (although some surveys do specify exempt status). The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that each company perform its own test (using the regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act) to determine if a job is exempt or nonexempt. |
| 3. | Even a description consisting of 100% exempt duties might be irrelevant in compliance terms, depending upon a company's payroll practices. |
| 4. | There would be liability exposure for ERI if we were to provide exempt or nonexempt assurances. For example: Company "A" could utilize data for a job indicated as traditionally exempt and treat the job as exempt in their own company. The time the employee spent on various duties at company "A," however, might result in the Department of Labor ruling that the job was actually nonexempt. Company "A" would then be in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The company might use as its defense that they relied on the information provided by ERI, and ERI does not wish to be involved with lawsuits over back wages and overtime. Rather than our subscribers potentially misusing any exempt or nonexempt status recommendations that we might publish (and therefore failing to perform their own tests under FLSA), we simplify the matter by reporting consensus job descriptions that do not presume FLSA interpretations. |
| 5. | More appropriate options exist to determine overtime status. ERI provides an FLSA module in the Occupational Assessor that permits customized employer input. The Occupational Assessor gives the user documented information on the probable overtime status, contingent on the accuracy of the details supplied. |