Content Last Revised: 4/23/04 ---DISCLAIMER---

29CFR541.700 - Primary duty.

• Section Number: 541.700
• Section Name: Primary duty.

    (a) To qualify for exemption under this part, an employee's 
``primary duty'' must be the performance of exempt work. The term 
``primary duty'' means the principal, main, major or most important 
duty that the employee performs. Determination of an employee's primary 
duty must be based on all the facts in a particular case, with the 
major emphasis on the character of the employee's job as a whole. 
Factors to consider when determining the primary duty of an employee 
include, but are not limited to, the relative importance of the exempt 
duties as compared with other types of duties; the amount of time spent 
performing exempt work; the employee's relative freedom from direct 
supervision; and the relationship between the employee's salary and the 
wages paid to other employees for the kind of nonexempt work performed 
by the employee.
    (b) The amount of time spent performing exempt work can be a useful 
guide in determining whether exempt work is the primary duty of an 
employee. Thus, employees who spend more than 50 percent of their time 
performing exempt work will generally satisfy the primary duty 
requirement. Time alone, however, is not the sole test, and nothing in 
this section requires that exempt employees spend more than 50 percent 
of their time performing exempt work. Employees who do not spend more 
than 50 percent of their time performing exempt duties may nonetheless 
meet the primary duty requirement if the other factors support such a 
conclusion.
    (c) Thus, for example, assistant managers in a retail establishment 
who perform exempt executive work such as supervising and directing the 
work of other employees, ordering merchandise, managing the budget and 
authorizing payment of bills may have management as their primary duty 
even if the assistant managers spend more than 50 percent of the time 
performing nonexempt work such as running the cash register. However, 
if such assistant managers are closely supervised and earn little more 
than the nonexempt employees, the assistant managers generally would 
not satisfy the primary duty requirement.