Brett Bartlett Published in Thompson’s FLSA Employee Exemption Handbook "Inside (Sales) or Out? The Answer Makes a Difference for Overtime Pay"

Brett Bartlett’s article, “Inside (Sales) or Out? The Answer Makes a Difference for Overtime Pay,” published in the June 2008 issue of Thompson’s FLSA Employee Exemption Handbook, examined the outside sales exemption of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In his article, Brett noted that, “Employers were able to convince Congress to create an exemption that excused managers from the onerous, if not impossible, task of recording the salesmen’s time and paying them overtime. The flexibility of their job and the potential for relatively high earnings associated with a burgeoning sales-based market benefited the employees sufficiently to justify their ineligibility for the minimum wage and for overtime pay under the FLSA.”

There is one important clause in the FLSA that distinguishes an outside salesperson from an inside salesperson. Brett explained, “The FLSA expressly exempts an ‘employee employed in the capacity of outside salesman’ from the law’s minimum wage and overtime provisions.” Brett further explained, “DOL regulations state that an outside salesperson must make sales at the customer’s place of business or, if selling door-to-door, at the customer’s home in order to qualify for the exemption.”