Accountants, Chefs, Computer/IT, Engineering and IT Workers Who Are Improperly Classified as Exempt and Paid a Salary

Professional Exemption. Some employees who possess specialized skills, such as accounting clerks, chefs, computer and IT specialists, engineers and persons working in the medical field, are paid a salary and treated as exempt, based on the theory that they qualify under the professional exemption. Like employees misclassified under the administrative and/or executive exemptions, employees who supposedly qualify as exempt may not meet the specific educational, licensing, or other task-specific standards governing the applicability of the professional exemption as to their particular job duties, and may be owed significant compensation. Milhaupt and Cohen has recovered significant amounts for employees misclassified as exempt under the professional exemption.

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