The following categories of employees are exempt from both minimum wage and overtime pay requirements of the FLSA:

• "White collar exempt" employees – executive, administrative, professional, computer professional, and outside sales representative employees – Section 213(a)(1) and 213(a)(17) (the latter section, applicable to computer professionals, specifies a minimum hourly rate of $27.63 per hour, which applies if the employee is not paid a minimum salary of $455 per week)

• Employees of certain amusement or recreational establishments – Section 213(a)(3)

• Employees involved in cultivation, propagation, catching, harvesting, or first processing at sea of aquatic forms of animal or vegetable life – Section 213(a)(5)

• Certain agricultural employees of small farms or family-owned farms – Section 213(a)(6) – does not apply to farms operating in conjunction with other establishments, the combined business volume of which exceeds $10,000,000

• Employees principally engaged in the range production of livestock – Section 213(a)(6)

• Employees exempt under special certificates issued under Section 214 – Section 213(a)(7)

  The 213(a)(7) exemption encompasses the following categories:

  • Learners – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – Section 214(a)

  • Apprentices – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – Section 214(a)

  • Messengers – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – Section 214(a)

  • Students employed in retail or service establishments – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – significant limitations on hours - Section 214(b)(1)

  • Students employed in agriculture – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – in compliance with child labor laws - Section 214(b)(2)

  • Students in institutions of higher education who are employed by their institutions – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – significant limitations on hours - Section 214(b)(3)

  • Handicapped workers – under special certificates issued by the Secretary of Labor – Section 214(c)

  • Students of elementary or secondary schools who are employed by their schools as part of the curriculum – in compliance with child labor laws – Section 214(d)

• Employees of certain small local newspapers – Section 213(a)(8)

• Switchboard operators for certain independently-owned public telephone companies – Section 213(a)(10)

• Seamen on vessels other than American vessels – Section 213(a)(12)

• Certain babysitters or companions for the elderly – Section 213(a)(15)

• Criminal investigators paid on an availability pay basis – Section 213(a)(16)

• Computer software professionals – Section 213(a)(17) (also noted at the beginning of this list) [note: although this appears in the "minimum wage and overtime exemptions" part of Section 213, it is really only an overtime exemption – to get the overtime exemption, the employer must pay the employee at least $27.63 per hour, i.e., a "minimum" wage, for all hours worked.]

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