Concurrent Duties - ELH / HR4Sight

An employee may perform exempt and nonexempt work concurrently without being disqualified from executive employee exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) if the other requirements for the exemption are met. Employees who perform exempt and nonexempt work concurrently that qualify for the executive exemption typically have the authority to decide when they will perform nonexempt duties and they remain responsible for the business operations under their management while performing the nonexempt work. In contrast, the nonexempt employee that performs exempt work is generally directed by a supervisor to perform the exempt work or performs the exempt work for defined time periods. See Primary Duty. 29 CFR 541.106(a).

An example of an exempt employee performing nonexempt work is an assistant manager in a clothing store whose primary duty is exempt work but also performs nonexempt work such as helping customers, stocking shelves, and cleaning the store. The assistant manager can supervise employees and help customers at the same time without losing the exemption. 29 CFR 541.106(b).

An example of a nonexempt employee performing exempt work is a relief supervisor whose primary duty is performing nonexempt work on a production line in a manufacturing plant who periodically has some responsibility for directing the work of other production line employees when the exempt supervisor is unavailable. Similarly, an electrician does not become an exempt executive simply because, in addition to performing his primary duty of electrical work, he or she also directs the work of other electricians on the job, orders materials, and handles requests from the general contractor. 29 CFR 541.106(c).

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