Last week, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Solis v. State of Washington, Department of Social and Health Services, wherein it attempted to clarify the learned professional exemption's "specialized intellectual instruction" requirement. In Solis, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint against the State of Washington, Department of Social and Health Services ("DSHS") wherein it alleged that DSHS had failed to pay overtime to certain of its social workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). DSHS argued that the social workers were exempt under the learned professional exemption.
The main focus of the case was whether the social workers met
the learned professional exemption's educational requirement.
In order to qualify to work as a social worker for DSHS, one needed
a ""[b]achelor's degree or higher in social services,
human services, behavioral sciences, or an allied field," as
well as eighteen months as a Social Worker 1 or two years'
experience in an equivalent position." The degrees that DSHS
considered to be an "allied field" included
"Counseling, Psych[ology], Social Work, Human Services,
Sociology, Child Development, Family Studies, Pastoral Counseling,
Anthropology, Gerontology, Therapeutic Recreation, Education,
Therapeutic Fields, or Criminal Justice."
The United States District Court for the Western District of
Washington (the "District Court") granted DSHS's
motion for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint because the
District Court concluded DSHS required that its social workers
receive a sufficient amount of specialized intellectual instruction
to satisfy the learned professional exemption's educational
requirement. The District Court based its decision in part upon a
district court decision from Pennsylvania entitled Chatfield v.
Children's Services, Inc., 555 F. Supp. 2d 532, 536-37
(E.D. Pa. 2008) where an employer's requirement that its
truancy officers had a bachelor's degree in social work, human
services, or a related field, plus three years of work experience
was held to be sufficient enough to satisfy the learned
professional exemption's requirements.
However, the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court's grant
of summary judgment. The Ninth Circuit noted that it had not yet
addressed the learned professional exemption's educational
requirement and, thus, relied on precedent from other circuits and
accorded deference to two Department of Labor ("DOL")
opinion letters. The Ninth Circuit first noted that other circuits,
including the 11th, 8th and 5th, have concluded "that
positions that do not require a particular course of intellectual
instruction directly related to the employee's professional
duties do not come within the 'learned professional'
exemption, even if they also require substantial practical
experience." The Ninth Circuit further noted that a number of
circuits, including the 5th, 6th and 10th, have held that where
applicants are required to complete a particular course of
instruction directly related to a position, the learned
professional exemption's educational requirement is satisfied
even if the applicants do not have a specific degree.
Taken together, the Ninth Circuit concluded that these decisions
are consistent with two opinion letters that the DOL had issued
regarding social workers and, thus, accorded such opinions
deference. In the first DOL opinion letter (the "2001 Opinion
Letter"), the DOL concluded that certain social workers met
the learned professional exemption's educational requirement
because they were required to possess either a master's decree
in social work or human services or a bachelor's degree in
human behavioral science together with specified work experience.
In the second DOL opinion letter (the "2005 Opinion
Letter"), the DOL concluded that a different social worker
position that merely requires a bachelor's degree in social
sciences failed to satisfy the learned professional exemption's
educational requirement. The DOL reasoned that a bachelor's
degree in social sciences does not constitute the
"specialized" academic training necessary to qualify for
the learned professional exemption. The Ninth Circuit agreed with
the District Court that DSHS's requirement that the social
workers have a degree in "social services, human services,
behavioral sciences or an allied field," is more specific than
the requirement of a degree in "social sciences" that was
addressed in the 2005 Opinion Letter. However, the Ninth Circuit
also noted that DSHS's requirements are less specific than the
educational requirements addressed in the 2001 Opinion
Letter.
As the Ninth Circuit explained, "[t]he dispositive question
here is not whether DSHS requires more than a degree 'in any
field,' but whether it requires a 'prolonged course of
specialized intellectual study.'" The Ninth Circuit
further explained that in order to satisfy the learned professional
exemption's educational requirement, the required prolonged
course of specialized intellectual instruction must be sufficiently
specialized and relate directly to the position. The court then
concluded that "[a]n educational requirement that may be
satisfied by degrees in fields as diverse as anthropology,
education, criminal justice and gerontology does not call for a
'course of specialized intellectual
instruction.'" The court also noted that DSHS's
acceptance of applicants with other degrees who merely had course
work in the designated acceptable fields further undermined the
DSHS's position that the social workers satisfy the learned
professional exemption.
Furthermore, the Ninth Circuit distinguished this case from
Chatfield by noting the closer nexus in Chatfield
between the educational requirements and the duties of the truancy
prevention job. Because of that nexus, it could more fairly be said
that the education requirements "were sufficiently more
specialized than a general degree in 'social sciences' to
amount to 'a specialized degree in a field related to the work
[applicants] will perform." In sum, the Ninth Circuit held
that DSHS's requirement that a social worker have "a
degree or sufficient coursework in any of several fields" that
are broadly related to the social worker position "suggests
that only general academic training is necessary" and not a
prolonged course of specialized intellectual study. Accordingly the
Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court's grant of summary
judgment.
This decision should serve as an important reminder to employers
that they must carefully examine their educational requirements
when seeking to apply the learned professional exemption to its
employees. As the Ninth Circuit noted, FLSA exemptions are to be
construed narrowly against employers and that the employer has the
burden of showing that a particular exemption applies. Employers
who fail to meet this burden may be subject to overtime claims from
current and former employees. If you have any questions about a
particular case, Sheppard Mullin lawyers are ready to assist
you.
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