NC Register Volume 19 Issue 06 - Office of Administrative Hearings

PROPOSED RULESAuthority G.S. 126-4.must be geographically separated from othercompany property. The management ofoperations within one or among severalbuildings located on a single or adjoiningtracts of company property does not qualifyfor the executive exemption. In the case of abranch, there must be a true and completephysical separation from the main office.25 NCAC 01D .1943 ADMINISTRATIVEEMPLOYEES(a) An employee is exempt as an administrative employee, if allof these conditions are met:(1) primary duty consists of performing office ornon-manual work directly related tomanagement policies or general businessoperations of agency, institution, school, orany department or sub-division thereof;(2) customarily and regularly exercises discretionand independent judgement, as distinguishedfrom using skills or following procedures;(3) regularly and directly assists an agency head,or an executive, administrative, or professionalemployee, or performs under only generalsupervision work along specialized andtechnical lines requiring special training,experience or knowledge, or in theperformance of functions in administration ofa school system or educational institution inwork directly related to academic instructionor training;(4) does not devote more than 20 percent of thehours worked during a workweek innon-exempt work;(5) is paid on salary or fee basis of at least onehundred fifty-five dollars ($155) a week,exclusive of board, lodging, or other purposes.Exception: An administrative employee who is paid on salaryor fee basis of at least two hundred fifty dollars ($250) a week[thirteen thousand ($13,000) dollars annual rate] and who meetsfirst two conditions above is exempt. The percentage tests fornon-exempt work do not apply.(b) Types of Administrative Employees - There are three typesof employees who are exempt as administrative employees ifthey meet all the other conditions. These employees are:(1) Executive and administrative assistants. Thisfirst type is the assistant to a proprietor or to anexecutive or administrative employee. Typicalof this group are executive assistant to thepresident, confidential assistant, executivesecretary, assistant to the general manager, andadministrative assistant. These assistants areusually found in large establishments wherethe official assisted has so many duties thatsome must be delegated.(2) Staff employees. Employees in the secondgroup are staff rather than line employees(functional, rather than departmental heads).They include employees who act as advisoryspecialists to the management. Examples aretax experts, insurance experts, researchexperts, wage rate analysts, investmentconsultants, foreign exchange consultants, andstatisticians. Also included are those in chargeof a so-called functional department that mayfrequently be a one-person department.Examples are purchasing agents, buyers,safety directors, and personnel directors.(3) Special assignment employees. The thirdgroup consists of persons who perform specialassignments. Among them are persons whowork away from their employer's place ofbusiness. Examples are traveling auditors,buyers, and traveling inventory employees.The group also includes employees whosespecial assignments are performed entirely orpartly inside their employer's place ofbusiness.(c) Employees possibly qualifying for the administrativeemployee exemption have extremely diverse functions and awide variety of titles. A title alone is of little or no assistance indetermining an employee's exempt or non-exempt status. Thestatus of the employee should be determined on the basis ofwhether duties, responsibilities and salary meet all therequirements of the rules.(d) Primary Duty - To qualify for exemption as anadministrative employee, an employee must have as a primaryduty office or non-manual work directly related to managementpolicies or general business operations of the employer or theemployer's programs. This condition is met only by employeeswho participate in the formulation of management policies or inthe operation of the business as a whole - it is also met byemployees whose work affects policy or who execute policy andby employees whose work affects business operations to asubstantial degree even though their assignments are only for aparticular segment of the business.(e) Discretion and Independent Judgement - These terms areinterpreted to mean the authority to make an independent choice,free from immediate supervision, in significant matters. Theyshould not be confused with the use of skill in applyingtechniques, procedures, or specific standards.(1) Example 1: Inspectors normally dospecialized work along standardized linesinvolving well established techniques andprocedures that may have been catalogued anddescribed in manuals or other sources. Theseinspectors use skill rather than discretion andjudgement.(2) Example 2: A shipping clerk is normallypermitted to decide the method of packing andthe mode of shipment of small orders, and abookkeeper may usually decide whether theemployee will post first to one ledger ratherthan another. These decisions do not deal withsignificant matters.19:06 NORTH CAROLINA REGISTER September 15, 2004625