Supreme Court Says Pharmaceutical Sales Exempt from FLSA

June 24th, 2012 by JBWK

The Supreme Court this week released an opinion ruling that pharmaceutical sales reps are exempt from the overtime requirements of the FLSA because they are “outside salesmen.”

The ruling, though, is more significant because it rejected the Department of Labor’s interpretation of the exemption. The DOL tried to present a very narrow definition of “sales” by arguing that title to an actual product had to change hands. The Supreme Court rejected the DOL’s interpretation as
“quite unpersuasive.”

This is becoming an important issue as more and more federal agencies are introducing new interpretations, rules, and guidance that haven’t been approved by federal courts.

Comments are closed.