{"id":2396,"date":"2014-01-27T08:00:48","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T08:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/?p=133"},"modified":"2014-01-27T08:00:48","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T08:00:48","slug":"california-overtime-exemption-status","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/","title":{"rendered":"California Labor Law will Determine the Exemption Status of Unlicensed Accounting Employees"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-3564\" title=\"Photo Credit: Shutterstock\/Bacho\" src=\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg\" alt=\"Men signing paperwork with silver pens\" width=\"500\" height=\"334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg 1316w, https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho-1024x683.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Recently in San Francisco\u2019s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, oral arguments were heard on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2011\/06\/15\/09-16370.pdf\"><em>Campbell v PricewaterhouseCoopers<\/em><\/a>. This is a wage and hour case in which the employees, unlicensed audit associates, are claiming that they have been misclassified as exempt and are owed overtime. If the plaintiffs are successful at recovering their overtime, it will open the door for more class actions brought by similarly situated employees.<\/p>\n<p>The counsel for the plaintiffs presented their argument to a panel of three judges. The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.ca9.uscourts.gov\/media\/view_subpage.php?pk_id=0000007023\">briefs<\/a>\u00a0read as follows:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em><em>PwC argues that Attest Associates satisfy the Professional Exemption because<\/em><em>\u2014<\/em><em>notwithstanding the routine and nondiscretionary nature of their work<\/em><em>\u2014<\/em><em>PwC claims that they are functionally indistinguishable from fully licensed accountants, doctors, lawyers, and engineers. As a matter of law, however, the text, structure, and drafting history of the Professional Exemption limit its application to licensed accountants, and Associates are not licensed. Second, PwC argues that Attest Associates satisfy the Wage Order<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em>s Administrative Exemption because they work <\/em><em>\u201c<\/em><em>under only general supervision<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em><em> despite up to six layers of managers who are responsible for Associates<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em> work. That argument fails, however, because PwC has not pointed to sufficient evidence to create a triable issue of fact that Associates <\/em><em>\u201c<\/em><em>work along specialized or technical lines<\/em><em>\u201d\u2014<\/em><em>much less that they do so <\/em><em>\u201c<\/em><em>under only general supervision<\/em><em>\u201d\u2014<\/em><em>as required by the Administrative Exemption.<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<p>PricewaterhouseCoopers counsel argument was as follows:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c<\/em><em>Put simply, nothing in the Wage Order precludes unlicensed accountants from being shown to be exempt under subsection (b) of the Professional Exemption. Plaintiffs<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em> argument that the <\/em><em>\u201c<\/em><em>drafting history<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em><em> of the wage order at issue shows an intention on the part of the [Industrial Welfare Commission] to prohibit unlicensed accountants from being professionally exempt should be rejected, because the language and structure of the Professional Exemption are not ambiguous, and contain no such prohibition. Even the District Court did not accept Plaintiffs<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em> tortured reading of the text of the Professional Exemption, or claim to find unambiguous intent on the part of the [Industrial Welfare Commission] to exclude from eligibility for the Professional Exemption all unlicensed members of the accounting profession <\/em><em>\u2014<\/em><em> and inevitably by extension, all unlicensed lawyers, doctors, dentists, optometrists, architects, engineers, and teachers. Doing so is flatly contrary to the overriding principle governing application of exemptions from overtime provisions, which is to consider individual employees<\/em><em>\u2019<\/em><em> work duties.<\/em><em>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The employees\u2019 position essentially is that they are not exempt under either the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/dlse\/Glossary.asp?Button1=P#professional%20exemption\">professional exemption<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dir.ca.gov\/dlse\/Glossary.asp?Button1=A\">administrative exemption<\/a>\u00a0because, they argue, that they are neither working in a specialized or technical role nor are they given the requisite discretion over how they may carry out their work to qualify as exempt from overtime.<\/p>\n<p>PricewaterhouseCoopers argues that the tasks that auditors perform are not that different from the tasks a licensed accountant performs. Licensed accountants do fall under the professional exemption therefore auditors should as well. They further argue that the exemption status should be based on the job duties or tasks that the employees perform and not on whether or not they are licensed.<\/p>\n<p>The court has not given its ruling but clearly has a lot to consider.<\/p>\n<p>If you hold a position in accounting and are currently being paid a salary, you may be owed overtime. If you have any questions it is advisable to contact a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/\">California labor law attorney<\/a>\u00a0to discuss your situation.<\/p>\n<address>Call now to see if you have been misclassified for overtime pay or any other employment law question: (415) 200-0012<\/address>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Photo Credit: Shutterstock\/Bacho<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently in San Francisco\u2019s 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, oral arguments were heard on Campbell v PricewaterhouseCoopers. This is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[261,52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exemptions","category-overtime"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Who is really exempt from overtime pay in California? Get Paid right!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recent case against Pricewaterhouse challenges the exempt classification of unlicensed accounting staff. See who should be getting paid overtime now.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Who is really exempt from overtime pay in California? Get Paid right!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recent case against Pricewaterhouse challenges the exempt classification of unlicensed accounting staff. See who should be getting paid overtime now.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UELG\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mike Radvak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mike Radvak\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mike Radvak\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19066d78fc88f07c0040342b550b0b2f\"},\"headline\":\"California Labor Law will Determine the Exemption Status of Unlicensed Accounting Employees\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\"},\"wordCount\":589,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Exemptions\",\"Overtime\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\",\"name\":\"Who is really exempt from overtime pay in California? Get Paid right!\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00\",\"description\":\"Recent case against Pricewaterhouse challenges the exempt classification of unlicensed accounting staff. See who should be getting paid overtime now.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"California Labor Law will Determine the Exemption Status of Unlicensed Accounting Employees\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/\",\"name\":\"California labor law attorney - UELG\",\"description\":\"California Labor Law Attorney\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UELG\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Uelglaw.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Uelglaw.jpg\",\"width\":906,\"height\":453,\"caption\":\"UELG\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19066d78fc88f07c0040342b550b0b2f\",\"name\":\"Mike Radvak\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa3096ace41ed10325b23e69f035d08e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa3096ace41ed10325b23e69f035d08e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mike Radvak\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/author\/newadmin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Who is really exempt from overtime pay in California? Get Paid right!","description":"Recent case against Pricewaterhouse challenges the exempt classification of unlicensed accounting staff. See who should be getting paid overtime now.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Who is really exempt from overtime pay in California? Get Paid right!","og_description":"Recent case against Pricewaterhouse challenges the exempt classification of unlicensed accounting staff. See who should be getting paid overtime now.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/","og_site_name":"UELG","article_published_time":"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg"}],"author":"Mike Radvak","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mike Radvak","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/"},"author":{"name":"Mike Radvak","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19066d78fc88f07c0040342b550b0b2f"},"headline":"California Labor Law will Determine the Exemption Status of Unlicensed Accounting Employees","datePublished":"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/"},"wordCount":589,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg","articleSection":["Exemptions","Overtime"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/","url":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/","name":"Who is really exempt from overtime pay in California? Get Paid right!","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg","datePublished":"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-27T08:00:48+00:00","description":"Recent case against Pricewaterhouse challenges the exempt classification of unlicensed accounting staff. See who should be getting paid overtime now.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.californialaborlaw.info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Bacho.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/california-overtime-exemption-status\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"California Labor Law will Determine the Exemption Status of Unlicensed Accounting Employees"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/","name":"California labor law attorney - UELG","description":"California Labor Law Attorney","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#organization","name":"UELG","url":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Uelglaw.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/Uelglaw.jpg","width":906,"height":453,"caption":"UELG"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/person\/19066d78fc88f07c0040342b550b0b2f","name":"Mike Radvak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa3096ace41ed10325b23e69f035d08e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/fa3096ace41ed10325b23e69f035d08e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mike Radvak"},"url":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/author\/newadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.california-labor-law-attorney.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}