Specific situation: exempt or non-exempt

[vpatclarks]

I have an employee who is upset about being classified as salaried non-exempt and believes she is an exempt employee.

She is a customer service representative at a commercial printing company. She has no subordinates. She does order entry, deals with customers on the phone and shepards production orders through the shop keeping track of their progress. She takes information from customers and our sales reps and puts in production order paperwork generated by a proprietary piece of software. She does cost estimating and quotes prices to our clients for work they might do with us. She uses estimating software for which I set up and maintain the parameters. She figures out how best to print a job, and then creates a quote based on that judgement, but she works within well defined limits of the software, and generally has me review her work before delivering the quotes. She has no other job duties.

Is she somehow exemptable as an administrative employee?

We have a second salaried employee who works in AP/AR and also does payroll. She has no subordinates. She also helps with taxes and insurance. I believe she is exemptable, but her supervisor believes she is not. She deals directly with clients and vendors to work out payment issues.

Is she somehow non-exemptable as an administrative employee?

Thanks

[cbg]

Definitely not for the first employee. She is clearly non-exempt in my opinion.

The second employee, possibly, but it depends on how much independent judgement she is able to exercise. I would very definitely err on the side of making her non-exempt.

For some employees, being exempt is a status thing. But even if an employee does qualify as being exempt, it is the employer's opt to make them non-exempt. It is NEVER illegal to make someone non-exempt. But it's not the employee who will have to pay the fines and the back overtime if someone is wrongly classified as exempt, it's the employer. Don't let them railroad you.

[Pattymd]

I definitely agree with cbg on the first employee.

We've had a lot of discussions in our little payroll world about payroll employees who perform duties as you define. We have determined that these employees are non-exempt. Payroll is not the place for much independent judgment; we need to do what the law and company policies say and when the law and company policies say we do it.

[vpatclarks]

Thank you for your replies. I requested that the employee give me their job description and reasoning for being exempt in their own words and told them I would post it here for you to review without my interpretation.

Please review the following and give me your unbiased professional opinion. We will also be reviewing this directly with the NCDOL on the phone later today.

Thank you for your time with this. Below is quoted from the employee and I have not edited it in any way except to remove mention of our company name.

"Customer Service

Acting as liaison between customers and the design, printing, production and fulfillment services [our company] provides.

Quoting jobs and sending information to client by fax or email when requested.

Placing orders and entering them in the computer with cost analysis info included for billing. Entering instructions for pre-press, press room, paper purchasing and bindery.

Providing contact person for [our company]’s via calls/emails which includes placing orders or checking the status of the orders in house.

If an outside service is required, requesting a quote from the company and place the order with them. Cutting a purchase order for the order or fill out a requisition and get a PO if over one hundred dollars.

I speak with clients about the design of their job and whether we can fulfill some of the ideas they have questions about . Give ideas if requested on paper choices, troubleshooting and problems that might occur in the future.

Resolving problems with customers that may arise.

Answer any job related questions asked by client or other employees. Dealing with any issues of the jobs I entered, if there are any that come up in the process of fulfilling the job. Try to resolve any challenges that may arise with a job that I entered.

Proofing jobs as requested by client or if we have done the job previously but needed to burn new plates. As well as forward all proofs to clients and back to Pre-press when approved or changes made.

Have inventory in house pulled by shipping and delivered.

Research old jobs for previous job numbers and pricing.


Enter new client information in system, (new clients, new addresses, phone numbers etc.) Keeping the database up to date.

General clerical work, data entry.



Deal totally in all aspects with a specific client base. Answering their questions about what jobs we print for them, how often, cost, how quickly we can do the job again, and any other questions they might have about doing business with us in relation to the printing issues.


I’m not sure if I covered all bases but I did request a Job Description when I accepted this position but was verbally told what my duties were. I’m sure there are things I’m forgetting but this is the best I can do at this time. My supervisor may have things to add to this."

[cbg]

My unbiased professional opinion is that this job is definitely non-exempt. There is not even a shadow of a question in my mind that this job does not qualify to be exempt.

[Pattymd]

As is mine. Great minds, cbg