Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

106 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP employee meets this requirement is the possession of the appropriate academic degree. 584 However, the word “customarily” means that the exemption is also available to employees in qualifying professions who have substantially the same knowledge level and perform substantially the same work as the degreed employees, but who attained the advanced knowledge through a combination of work experience and intellectual instruction. Thus, the exemption is available to the occasional lawyer who did not go to law school, but who gained essentially the same knowledge through apprenticeship and has been admitted to practice law in the state in which he or she works. 585 This exemption does not apply to occupations in which most employees acquire their skill by experience rather than by advanced specialized intellectual instruction. 586 (d) Examples of Employees Who Qualify for the Learned Professional Exemption The regulations specify that the following professionals qualify for the learned professional exemption: • Registered or certified medical technologists • Registered nurses • Dental hygienists who have successfully completed four academic years of pre- professional and professional study at an accredited college or university • Physicians assistants who meet standard prerequisites for practice • Certified public accountants, as well as many other accountants who perform similar job duties • Executive chefs and sous chefs who have attained a four-year academic degree in culinary arts • Athletic trainers who have successfully completed four academic years of pre- professional and professional study in a specialized accredited curriculum • Licensed funeral directors and embalmers who are licensed by and working in a state that requires successful completion of four academic years of pre-professional and professional study 584 Id .; Drexler v. TEL NEXX, Inc. , 125 F. Supp. 3d 361, 373-374 (D. Mass. 2015) (denying defendant ’s mot ion to dismiss because plaint iff’s advanced degree was in field not relevant to position and posit ion did not require specialized knowledge typically acquired by obtaining advanced degree). 585 See 29 C.F.R. § 541.301(d); Drexler, 125 F. Supp. 3d at 374; Crowe , 136 F. Supp. 3d at 34-45 (finding disputed material fact s as to whether posit ion required prolonged, advanced study). 586 29 C.F.R. § 541.301(d).