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October 20, 1938 to 1940 - Initial Implementation of 29 CFR 541 January 1939: From the Interim Report of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division For the Period August 15 to December 31, 1938
[PAGE IV - 7]
High-salaried Employees
Another problem on which sufficient evidence has not yet come to hand to permit a conprehensive discussion but which has been of great interest to employers throughout the country is the question of the application of the statute to certain high-salaried employees who receive, say, $400 a month or more. As the statute now stands, these persons are covered unless they fall within the definition of employees engaged in an executive, administrative, or professional capacity, in Section 13(a)(1). The administrator was given power to define these terms; and they have been defined, after careful consideration and consultation with enployers and employees,
[PAGE IV - 7]
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[PAGE IV - 8]
in a manner which is consistent with common usage and with definitions of similar terms in State Legislation. It has been the contention of some employers, however, that certain employees who do not fall within these categories of administrative and executive or professional as defined are, nevertheless, paid rather high salaries and are engaged steadily in work which is of a very responsible nature. The minimum wage provisions of the Act do not, of course, affect these employees, but the provisions of Section 7 require that they be paid time and a half for hours over the maximum permitted, 44 hours this year, 42 hours next year and 40 hours thereafter.
This briefly is the nature of the problem presented. The number of such employees is not known nor is the extent to which the provisions of Section 7 of the Act may impose changes in the personnel policies and the admimstrative practices of business enterprises. The Wage and Hour Division has requested all companies interested in this matter to furnish a detailed description of the nature of their individual problems and suggestions for action which might be taken for meeting this general situation. After enough of this matrial has been submitted to bring into focus more clearly the situation which exists with respect to these employees under the Act at the present time, it may be possible to present a definite arecommendation on this question. If any channge in the statute is contemplated, all parties have agreed that any line of demarcation placing those high-salaried employees into a separate category for special treatment would have to be very carefully drawn in order not to diminish the protection which the Act now furnishes to the vast majority of clerical employees.
(See: pages IV-7 and IV-8, Interim Report of the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division For the Period August 15 to December 31, 1938, U. S. Department of Labor, Washington. January, 1939.)
February 18, 1939: DOL/WH/R-Series, Andrews address before the Cleveland City Club, February 18, 1939, pp. 7-8;
July 31, 1939: DOL/WH/R-Series, Andrews before the American Newspaper Guild, San Francisco, July 31, 1939, pp. 8-12.
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The Fair Labor Standards Act: A Historical Sketch of the Overtime Pay Requirements of Section 13(a)(1). By William G. Whittaker Specialist in Labor Economics. Domestic Social Policy Division, Congressional Research Service. RL32088. August 28, 2007. Available through
The Fair Labor Standards Act: Exemption of “Executive, Administrative and Professional” Employees Under Section 13(a)(1), July 17, 2003. RL31995. Available through the Congressional Research Service.