Outside Salesperson Exemption to Overtime rules of FLSA

This exemption focuses on the employee's duties and the place where these duties are performed. Under California law, an exempt outside salesperson is someone who regularly spends over half their work time engaged in sales away from the employer's place of business. The federal law is similar except that it requires that exempt outside salespeople cannot spend over 20 percent of their work time engaged in the work of other non-exempt employees. What this means is that if an employee spends significant time doing other duties other than being away from the business selling, then that employee's job merits significant scrutiny to determine the propriety from the outside salesperson exemption.