Ninth Circuit Attempts To Clarify Learned Professional Exemption's Educational Requirement

Last week, the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in Solis v. State of Washington, Department of Social and Health Services, wherein it attempted to clarify the learned professional exemption's "specialized intellectual instruction" requirement. In Solis, the U.S. Department of Labor filed a complaint against the State of Washington, Department of Social and Health Services ("DSHS") wherein it alleged that DSHS had failed to pay overtime to certain of its social workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA"). DSHS argued that the social workers were exempt under the learned professional exemption.

The main focus of the case was whether the social workers met the learned professional exemption's educational requirement. In order to qualify to work as a social worker for DSHS, one needed a ""[b]achelor's degree or higher in social services, human services, behavioral sciences, or an allied field," as well as eighteen months as a Social Worker 1 or two years' experience in an equivalent position." The degrees that DSHS considered to be an "allied field" included "Counseling, Psych[ology], Social Work, Human Services, Sociology, Child Development, Family Studies, Pastoral Counseling, Anthropology, Gerontology, Therapeutic Recreation, Education, Therapeutic Fields, or Criminal Justice." The United States District Court for the Western District of Washington (the "District Court") granted DSHS's motion for summary judgment and dismissed the complaint because the District Court concluded DSHS required that its social workers receive a sufficient amount of specialized intellectual instruction to satisfy the learned professional exemption's educational requirement. The District Court based its decision in part upon a district court decision from Pennsylvania entitled Chatfield v. Children's Services, Inc., 555 F. Supp. 2d 532, 536-37 (E.D. Pa. 2008) where an employer's requirement that its truancy officers had a bachelor's degree in social work, human services, or a related field, plus three years of work experience was held to be sufficient enough to satisfy the learned professional exemption's requirements. However, the Ninth Circuit reversed the District Court's grant of summary judgment. The Ninth Circuit noted that it had not yet addressed the learned professional exemption's educational requirement and, thus, relied on precedent from other circuits and accorded deference to two Department of Labor ("DOL") opinion letters. The Ninth...