Opinion ID: 686722
Heading Depth: 6
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Editors:

Text: 80 The Monitor asserts that the district court erroneously ruled that three editors were not exempt artistic professionals under the long test despite the Secretary's concession that they were exempt under the short test. Because this contention has absolutely no basis in the record, we reject it. 81 Admittedly, the Secretary concluded that the three editors at issue--Sharon Goss, Nancy Druelinger, and Lila Locksley--qualified for exemption once their salaries rose above $250. Having so concluded, however, the Secretary did not pursue, and the court did not award, back wages for the period during which these employees were paid over $250 per week. Rather, the court concluded that before their weekly salaries rose above $250, these editors were not performing work that qualified them for exemption under the long test for artistic professionals, 15 which requires that their primary duty consist of [w]ork that is original and creative in character and which depends primarily on the invention, imagination, or talent of the employee.... 29 C.F.R. Sec. 541.3(a)(2). 82 We find this conclusion to have ample support in the record. Ms. Locksley testified that her main duties were reading wire stories for grammatical and factual errors, writing headlines, and making improvements so that the stories were shorter or more readable. Ms. Druelinger offered similar testimony, stating that most of her time was spent writing headlines, reading over and rewriting wire stories, and laying out the pages. 16 Ms. Goss's testimony was comparable. Overall, their day-to-day work was the type of routine editorial work that is generally considered nonexempt. See 29 C.F.R. Sec. 541.303(f) (The reporting of news, the rewriting of stories received from various sources, or the routine editorial work of a newspaper is not predominantly original and creative in character within the meaning of Sec. 541.3 and must be considered as nonexempt work.).