Are artistic professionals exempt from the FLSA?
Persons employed in the arts are exempt from receiving overtime under the artistic professional exemption. This is most often misapplied to persons who work in fields that have limited avenues for creativity such as draftsman, graphic artists, journalists, technical writers, copy writers and the like. To be excluded from receiving overtime as an artistic professional, an employee must perform work that is original and creative in nature in a field of recognized artistic endeavor. The results must be dependent primarily on the invention, imagination or talent of the employee. The work must also require the consistent exercise of discretion and independent judgment, and it must be predominantly intellectual and varied.
