Human Resource Blog

FLSA Exemption in Iowa for Outside Sales

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 Are employees in Iowa that are considered by us to be outside sales people exempt from FLSA if they have a home office, but don’t work on-site?

Outside sales people are considered to be exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act coverage regardless of whether or not they have a home office. FLSA applies to employees in all states across the country, including employees in Iowa. The Act is in place in order to establish minimum wage for all workers.

There are several types of employees that are exempt from FLSA coverage. When an employee is exempt the employee does not necessarily need to be paid for the amount of hours that he or she works over the 40 hour a week limit. However, in most cases the employee should be paid a minimum of $455 per week and the employee should meet other employment-related criteria as well.

For an outside sales representative to be exempt from FLSA, the individual needs to meet the following criteria for coverage:

·         The employee needs to have the primary job duty of making sales, obtaining orders for products or services for a particular company

·         The employee should also work outside of the main office. For example, the employee can work on the road making sales calls

The employee will not necessarily receive exempt status as an outside sales person if he or she simply has a home office and does not come into the main office to work. According to the Act, a home office that is used to solicit sales for the company is still considered to be property of the business, even in a situation in which the business does not own or rent the home.

Also, if an employee participates in a promotional event, such as passing out T-shirts at a professional sporting event, the employee is not considered to be participating in outside sales efforts to the degree where he or she receives exempt status. However, if the promotional event is done in addition to a normal job as an outside sales representative, then the employee would naturally receive exempt status. CB