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niques, checks on the quality of customer service being 
given, or observes customer preferences is performing 
work which is directly and closely related to managerial 
and supervisory functions. 
‘‘(6) A business consultant may take extensive notes 
recording the flow of work and materials through the of-
fice or plant of the client; after returning to the office 
of the employer, the consultant may personally use the 
computer to type a report and create a proposed table 
of organization. Standing alone, or separated from the 
primary duty, such note-taking and typing would be rou-
tine in nature. However, because this work is necessary 
for analyzing the data and making recommendations, the 
work is directly and closely related to exempt work. 
While it is possible to assign note-taking and typing to 
nonexempt employees, and in fact it is frequently the 
practice to do so, delegating such routine tasks is not re-
quired as a condition of exemption. 
‘‘(7) A øcredit¿ manager who makes and admin-
isters the øcredit¿<<budget>> policy of the øem-
ployer¿<<employing 
office>>, 
establishes 
øcred-
it¿<<spending>> limits for øcustomers¿<<the em-
ploying office>>, <<and>> authorizes øthe shipment 
of orders on credit, and makes decisions on whether to 
exceed credit limits¿<<expenditures>> would be per-
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•HRES 1516 EH 
forming work exempt under §541.200. Work that is di-
rectly and closely related to these exempt duties may in-
clude checking the status of accounts to determine 
whether the credit limit would be exceeded by the ship-
ment of a new order, removing credit reports from the 
files for analysis, and writing letters giving credit data 
and experience to other employers or credit agencies. 
‘‘(8) A traffic manager in charge of planning a 
company’s transportation, including the most economical 
and quickest routes for shipping merchandise to and 
from the plant, contracting for common-carrier and 
other transportation facilities, negotiating with carriers 
for adjustments for damages to merchandise, and mak-
ing the necessary rearrangements resulting from delays, 
damages or irregularities in transit, is performing ex-
empt work. If the employee also spends part of the day 
taking telephone orders for local deliveries, such order- 
taking is a routine function and is not directly and close-
ly related to the exempt work. 
‘‘(9) An example of work directly and closely related 
to exempt professional duties is a chemist performing 
menial tasks such as cleaning a test tube in the middle 
of an original experiment, even though such menial tasks 
can be assigned to laboratory assistants.
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•HRES 1516 EH 
‘‘(10) A teacher performs work directly and closely 
related to exempt duties when, while taking students on 
a field trip, the teacher drives a school van or monitors 
the students’ behavior in a restaurant. 
‘‘§ 541.704 Use of manuals 
‘‘The use of manuals, guidelines or other established 
procedures containing or relating to highly technical, sci-
entific, legal, financial or other similarly complex matters 
that can be understood or interpreted only by those with ad-
vanced or specialized knowledge or skills does not preclude 
exemption under section 13(a)(1) of the Act or the regula-
tions in this part. Such manuals and procedures provide guid-
ance in addressing difficult or novel circumstances and thus 
use of such reference material would not affect an employee’s 
exempt status. The section 13(a)(1) exemptions are not avail-
able, however, for employees who simply apply well-estab-
lished techniques or procedures described in manuals or other 
sources within closely prescribed limits to determine the cor-
rect response to an inquiry or set of circumstances. 
‘‘§ 541.705 Trainees 
‘‘The executive, administrative, professional, øoutside 
sales¿ and computer employee exemptions do not apply to 
employees training for employment in an executive, adminis-
trative, professional, øoutside sales¿ or computer employee 
capacity who are not actually performing the duties of an ex-
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ecutive, administrative, professional, øoutside sales¿ or com-
puter employee. 
‘‘§ 541.706 Emergencies 
‘‘(a) An exempt employee will not lose the exemption by 
performing work of a normally nonexempt nature because of 
the existence of an emergency. Thus, when emergencies arise 
that threaten the safety of employees, a cessation of oper-
ations or serious damage to the employer’s property, any 
work performed in an effort to prevent such results is consid-
ered exempt work. 
‘‘(b) An ‘emergency’ does not include occurrences that 
are not beyond control or for which the employer can reason-
ably provide in the normal course of business. Emergencies 
generally occur only rarely, and are events that the employer 
cannot reasonably anticipate. 
‘‘(c) The following examples illustrate the distinction be-
tween emergency work considered exempt work and routine 
work that is not exempt work: 
‘‘(1) øA mine superintendent who pitches in after 
an explosion and digs out workers who are trapped in 
the mine is still a bona fide executive.¿<<Reserved.>> 
‘‘(2) Assisting nonexempt employees with their work 
during periods of heavy workload or to handle rush or-
ders is not exempt work.
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•HRES 1516 EH 
‘‘(3) Replacing a nonexempt employee during the 
first day or partial day of an illness may be considered 
exempt emergency work depending on factors such as 
the size of the øestablishment¿<<location>> and of 
the executive’s department, the nature of the øindus-
try¿<<work performed by the employing office>>, the 
consequences that would flow from the failure to replace 
the ailing employee immediately, and the feasibility of 
filling the employee’s place promptly. 
‘‘(4) Regular repair and cleaning of equipment is 
not emergency work, even when necessary to prevent fire 
or explosion; however, repairing equipment may be emer-
gency work if the breakdown of or damage to the equip-
ment was caused by accident or carelessness that the 
employer could not reasonably anticipate. 
‘‘§ 541.707 Occasional tasks 
‘‘Occasional, infrequently recurring tasks that cannot 
practicably be performed by nonexempt employees, but are 
the means for an exempt employee to properly carry out ex-
empt functions and responsibilities, are considered exempt 
work. The following factors should be considered in deter-
mining whether such work is exempt work: Whether the same 
work is performed by any of the exempt employee’s subordi-
nates; practicability of delegating the work to a nonexempt 
employee; whether the exempt employee performs the task
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•HRES 1516 EH 
frequently or occasionally; and existence of an industry prac-
tice for the exempt employee to perform the task. 
‘‘§ 541.708 Combination exemptions 
‘‘Employees who perform a combination of exempt duties 
as set forth in the regulations in this part for executive, ad-
ministrative, professional, øoutside sales¿ and computer em-
ployees may qualify for exemption. Thus, for example, an em-
ployee whose primary duty involves a combination of exempt 
administrative and exempt executive work may qualify for ex-
emption. In other words, work that is exempt under one sec-
tion of this part will not defeat the exemption under any 
other section. 
ø‘‘§ 541.709 Motion picture producing industry 
ø‘‘The requirement that the employee be paid ‘on a sal-
ary basis’ does not apply to an employee in the motion pic-
ture producing industry who is compensated at a base rate 
of at least $1,043 per week (exclusive of board, lodging, or 
other facilities). Thus, an employee in this industry who is 
otherwise exempt under subparts B, C, or D of this part, and 
who is employed at a base rate of at least the applicable cur-
rent minimum amount a week is exempt if paid a propor-
tionate amount (based on a week of not more than 6 days) 
for any week in which the employee does not work a full 
workweek for any reason. Moreover, an otherwise exempt em-
ployee in this industry qualifies for exemption if the employee
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•HRES 1516 EH 
is employed at a daily rate under the following cir-
cumstances:¿ 
ø‘‘(a) The employee is in a job category for which a 
weekly base rate is not provided and the daily base rate 
would yield at least the minimum weekly amount if 6 days 
were worked; or¿ 
ø‘‘(b) The employee is in a job category having the min-
imum weekly base rate and the daily base rate is at least one- 
sixth of such weekly base rate.¿ 
‘‘§ 541.709 <<Reserved.>> 
‘‘§ 541.710 øEmployees of public agencies¿<<Effect of cer-
tain deductions on exempt employee pay>> 
‘‘(a) An employee øof a public agency¿ who otherwise 
meets the salary basis requirements of §541.602 shall not be 
disqualified from exemption under §541.100, 541.200, 
541.300 or 541.400 on the basis that such employee is paid 
according to a pay system established by statute, ordinance 
or regulation, or by a policy or practice established pursuant 
to principles of public accountability, under which the em-
ployee accrues personal leave and sick leave and which re-
quires the øpublic agency¿ employee’s pay to be reduced or 
such employee to be placed on leave without pay for absences 
for personal reasons or because of illness or injury of less 
than one work-day when accrued leave is not used by an em-
ployee because:
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•HRES 1516 EH 
‘‘(1) Permission for its use has not been sought or 
has been sought and denied; 
‘‘(2) Accrued leave has been exhausted; or 
‘‘(3) The employee chooses to use leave without pay. 
‘‘(b) Deductions from the pay of an employee øof a pub-
lic agency¿ for absences due to a budget-required furlough 
shall not disqualify the employee from being paid on a salary 
basis except in the workweek in which the furlough occurs 
and for which the employee’s pay is accordingly reduced.’’. 
Attest: 
Clerk.