AS State Personnel
Classification and Compensation

PREVIOUS SHORT TEST

Salary level: $250 per week

Duties Test:

1. primary duty consists of the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized instruction and study, and
2. work requires the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment or requires invention, imagination, or talent in a recognized field of artistic endeavor.

CURRENT TEST

Salary level: $455 per week

Duties test:

Learned Professional test:

1. primary duty must be the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction, and
2. work is predominantly intellectual in character and which requires the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment.

Creative Professional test:

1. The employee’s primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.

DEFINITIONS

Primary
the principal, main, major or most important duty the employee performs. Consider the relative importance of the exempt duties as compared with other types of duties, the amount of time spent performing the exempt duties, the employee’s relative freedom from direct supervision, and the relationship between the employee’s salary and the wages paid to other employees for the same types of non-exempt work. The amount of time spent performing non-exempt work can be a useful guide. Thus, employees who spend more than 50% of their time performing exempt work will generally satisfy the primary duty requirement. Time alone, however, is not the sole test, and nothing requires that exempt employees spend more than 50% of their time performing exempt work. Employees who do not spend more than 50% of their time performing exempt work may nonetheless meet the primary duty requirement based on the character of the job as a whole.

Work requiring advanced knowledge
means work which is predominantly intellectual in nature and which includes work requiring the consistent exercise of discretion and judgment (see discussion under Administrative Exemption). An employee who performs work requiring advanced knowledge generally uses the advanced knowledge to analyze, interpret or make deductions from varying facts or circumstances.

Field of science or learning
includes the traditional professions of law, medicine, accounting, actuarial computation, engineering, architecture, teaching, various types of physical, chemical and biological sciences, pharmacy and other similar occupations that have a recognized professional status as distinguished from the mechanical arts or skilled trades.

Prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction
the exemption is restricted to professions where specialized academic training is a standard prerequisite for entrance into the profession. A direct correlation between the course of study and the professional duties to be performed must exist. Some jobs require only a four year college degree in any field or a two year degree as a standard prerequisite for entrance into the field; such jobs do not qualify for the learned professional exemption. Similarly, the exemption does not apply to occupations in which most employees have acquired their skill by experience rather than by advanced specialized intellectual instruction.

Occupations
generally meeting the learned professional exemption are: Registered or Certified Medical Technologists, Registered Nurses, Dental Hygienists, Physician Assistants, Certified Public Accountants, Pharmacists, Speech/Occupational/Physical Therapists, Psychologists, Architects, Physicists and Lawyers.

Creative professional
the work performed must be in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor such as music, writing, acting, and the graphic arts. The requirement of invention, imagination, originality or talent distinguishes the creative professions from work that primarily depends on intelligence, diligence, and accuracy. The exemption as a creative professional depends on the extent of the invention, imagination, originality or talent exercised by the employee and, thus, determinations must be made on a case by case basis.

Note: The State of Nebraska Classification & Pay Plan lists the general overtime designation (Exempt or Non-Exempt) for each class. However, this is only a general class guide. The actual overtime designation for a position must be individually determined by the duties and responsibility assigned to that position.