Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Opinion Letter Further Defines the Outside Sales Exemption

Employees who seek charitable contributions by door-to-door solicitation are not exempt outside salespersons, according a recent U.S. Department of Labor opinion letter. That is because the employees are not making "sales," as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. The letter relies on a 1940 DOL Report for the definition of a sale. According to the report:

In extending the scope of the term "outside salesman" to include such employees as radio time, advertising, and freight solicitors, it is not intended to include persons who in a very loose sense are sometimes described as selling "service."
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[R]equests to include as outside salesmen such employees as service men, installation men, delivery men, and collectors must be denied as lying outside the scope of the Administrator's authority.

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