Generally, employees who qualify as “professionals” possess advanced, specialized education or talents, plus considerable control over their time. There are many employees who seem like they would qualify as professionals under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act – but don’t. And getting it wrong can land you in a heap of expensive trouble, including paying out several years’ worth of back pay, plus additional damages and attorney’s fees.

Order this in-depth, practical 90-minute audio conference recording all about the professional exemption. Our expert speaker will explain the rules governing this exemption, including the most recent changes to the “work requiring advanced knowledge” test, as well as others. She’ll also share practical techniques for classifying professional employees correctly, the best ways to avoid common overtime exemption mistakes, and advice on conducting effective internal audits to spot errors before they turn into big trouble.

You and your colleagues will learn:

• The most common mistakes employers make when classifying professional employees for overtime purposes – and how you can avoid repeating them
• How to avoid misclassifying your IT professionals
• How to apply the salary level and standard duties tests to your professional workers
• Which jobs seem like they should qualify for the professional exemption, but don’t
• What “work requiring advanced knowledge” really means, in plain English, and what constitutes a “learned profession”
• How to review your professional job classifications and descriptions for red flags that could mean overtime exemption problems
• The safest ways to fix professional exemption classification errors - without triggering DOL audits and employee claims

Workers can be classified as exempt from overtime if they fall under one of four exemptions. The professional exemption, covered in depth in this audio conference, is one of the four. Don’t miss these upcoming audio conferences from BLR that will provide additional in-depth guidance on the other three exemptions:

• December 2 - The Administrative Exemption (on CD)
• December 9 - The Executive Exemption (on CD)
• December 11 - The Outside Sales exemption (on CD)

Order all 4 on CD and save $277!
CD recordings: just $599—over a 30% savings

There’s no better way to get your wage and hour practices in line for 2009 than a complete review of the four overtime exemptions—take advantage of our full series and save now.

Kristine E. Kwong, Esq., is a partner in the Los Angeles office of the national law firm Hinshaw & Culbertson, LLP. She advises and counsels clients on a wide range of business and employment issues, including wage and hour matters, noncompete and restrictive covenant agreements, executive compensation packages, the full range of disciplinary matters, discrimination, harassment, and leaves of absence, including the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), the California Family Rights Act (CFRA), Pregnancy Disability Leave (PDL), the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), and the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). In addition, her practice includes the drafting and updating of handbooks, policy manuals, codes of conduct, and severance packages, and she regularly produces and presents training programs for employers on current issues of employment law. Kwong earned her law degree from the University of the Pacific (McGeorge School of Law).

Approved for Recertification Credit

This program has been approved for 1.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCI’s criteria to be pre-approved for recertification.

Questions? Speak with a customer service representative.