To qualify for the professional exemption under the FLSA, each employee must satisfy the following:
The employee must be compensated:
on a salary or fee basis; and
at a rate at least equal to the standard salary level of $684 a week (special salary levels apply to US territories).
The employee must satisfy the duties requirements of a:
learned professional; or
creative professional.
An exempt learned professional's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring advanced knowledge, which:
Is defined as work which is predominantly intellectual in character and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.
Must be in a field of science or learning.
Must be customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction.
An exempt creative professional's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality, or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.