The professional exemption extends to three categories of potentially exempt employees:

• Licensed
• Learned
• Artistic

An employee who is not a licensed professional could still be exempt if the employee qualifies as a learned or artistic professional. For more information, see “Unlicensed Professionals May Be Exempt as Learned Professionals” in Professional Exemption.

California’s Wage Order 4, Professional, Technical, Clerical, Mechanical and Similar Occupations, classifies as nonexempt many occupations commonly considered artistic or learned professions, including artists, copy writers, editors, librarians, nurses, photographers, social workers, statisticians, teachers (other than state certified teachers) and many others. Unless an employee in one of these positions clearly meets one of the exemptions discussed in this chapter, based on the duties of the job, the employee must be classified as nonexempt.

This page contains the following information:

• Professional Exemption Test
• Licensed Professionals
• Learned Professional Exemption
• Exemption for Physicians Paid on an Hourly Basis
• Pharmacists Exemption
• Nurses Exemption
• College Faculty Exemption
• Artistic Professional Exemption

Professional Exemption Test

A professional employee is exempt from overtime pay if the employee meets the following requirements.1

The employee must either be:

1. Licensed or certified by the State of California and primarily engaged in the practice of one of the following recognized professions: law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, architecture, engineering, teaching or accounting (for more information, see “Licensed Professionals” in Professional Exemption); or
2. Primarily engaged in an occupation commonly recognized as a learned or artistic profession. The “learned or artistic profession” exemption applies when an employee who is primarily engaged in work that either:
• Requires advanced knowledge in a science or learning field customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction and study, as opposed to a general academic education or an apprenticeship, and from training in the performance of routine mental, manual or physical processes or work that is an essential part of any of the above work; or
• Is original and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor, as opposed to work that can be produced by a person endowed with general manual or intellectual ability and training, and the result of which depends primarily on the employee’s invention, imagination or talent, or work that is an essential part of any of the above work; and
• To qualify for the learned or artistic profession exemption, the work must be predominantly intellectual and varied in character, as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work, and the output produced or the result accomplished cannot be standardized in relation to a given period of time. For more information, see“Learned Professional Exemption” on this page and“Artistic Professional Exemption,” also on this page.

To meet the test, the professional employee must also meet all the following requirements :

• Customarily and regularly exercises discretion and independent judgment in the performance of the duties previously described (see “Discretion and Independent Judgment” in Determining Exempt or Nonexempt Status for more information); and
• Earns a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment. For purposes of exempt salary requirements, full-time employment is defined as 40 hours per week2 (see“Minimum Salary for Exempt Employees” in Determining Exempt or Nonexempt Status for more information).

There is an exception to the salary requirement for certain physicians who are paid at least a minimum hourly rate set by the state. For more information, see “Exemption for Physicians Paid on an Hourly Basis” on this page.

Use the Exempt Analysis Worksheet — Professional Exemption to help evaluate the exempt or nonexempt status for your professional employees.

• Exempt Analysis Worksheet — Professional Exemption

• Private school teachers may be exempt under state law. For more information, see“Overtime for Private School Teachers” in Overtime Exceptions for Specific Industries.

Licensed Professionals

The professional exemption for licensed professionals specifically applies to individuals with a license in one of eight enumerated professions:

• Law
• Medicine
• Dentistry
• Optometry
• Architecture
• Engineering
• Teaching
• Accounting

Unlicensed Professionals May Be Exempt as Learned Professionals

Some individuals practice in one of the eight enumerated professions but are not licensed. For example, an accountant may not have a Certified Public Accountant license or a recent law school graduate may be waiting for results from the licensing exam. In the past, some treated these unlicensed professionals as ineligible for the professional exemption.

However, several courts have ruled that unlicensed accountants are not categorically ineligible for California’s professional exemption. While the unlicensed accountants (and presumably other unlicensed professionals) do not qualify under the licensed professional category, they may be eligible under either California’s learned professional exemption or administrative exemption.3 These decisions mean that employers can potentially classify these employees as exempt.

For example, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that unlicensed accountants could still be classified as exempt if they met the various requirements for a “learned” profession.4 Another court held that unlicensed accountants could argue that they met administrative exemption.5

A California court found that a law clerk who was enrolled in law school but had not yet passed the bar was exempt. The law clerk argued that he was not licensed during that period of time and thus could not meet the professional exemption test. The court, following earlier court rulings on unlicensed accountants, ruled that even though the law clerk did not have a license, he met the requirements of the learned professional exemption.6 For more information,“Learned Professional Exemption” in Professional Exemption.

Learned Professional Exemption

Some individuals are exempt because they work in a learned profession. To be exempt under the learned professional exemption, the employee must meet the professional exemption requirements. See“Professional Exemption Test” in Professional Exemption for more information.

Key points to remember about this test and how it may apply to learned professionals are as follows:

• The educational requirement for the job is advanced. This is defined as a person who, to perform their job, completed a prolonged course of intellectual instruction in a recognized field of science or learning resulting in the attainment of an advanced degree or certificate. Knowledge of an advanced type must be knowledge which cannot be attained at the high school level. It is distinguished from a general academic education, apprenticeship, or training in routine mental, manual or physical processes. An example would be an advanced degree in a specialized field, such as a B.S. in Chemistry. Advanced and prolonged instruction in a specialized field must be established. While a degree above a B.S. or B.A. is not specifically required, some type of advanced degree or certificate is; the Labor Commissioner has indicated that it considers an advanced degree above a bachelor’s degree as a standard prerequisite for claiming the exemption.
• The work must be mainly intellectual and varied in character (as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work).
• The product or result of the employee’s work cannot be standardized with respect to time. The employee has considerable freedom of choice as to when and how to carry out a task. The individual generally controls their hours of work.
• The work is predominately (more than 50 percent of the time) intellectual and varied in character as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work. Individual analysis of employee job duties is critical and the exemption cannot simply be applied to broad classes of professions.
• The employee must “customarily and regularly” exercise “discretion and independent judgment in the performance of their duties.”7

Example: Professionals who might be exempt on this basis would be certain consulting or research chemists, physicists, biologists, geologists, etc., if their work and working conditions fit the criteria.

• If these requirements are applied, the employee must still meet the discretion and independent judgment test and the employee must earn at least two times the minimum wage to be properly classified as exempt.

Certain unlicensed professionals, such as law clerks or unlicensed accountants, might meet the learned professional test. For more information, see“Unlicensed Professionals May Be Exempt as Learned Professionals” in Professional Exemption.

Exemption for Physicians Paid on an Hourly Basis

A licensed physician or surgeon primarily engaged in performing duties for which licensure is required is exempt from overtime if they are paid at least the minimum hourly rate set annually by the state. The Director’s Office of Policy, Research and Legislation (OPRL) is responsible for adjusting the rate every year, based on the percentage increase in the California Consumer Price Index (CCPI) for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.6

• The minimum hourly rate of pay for 2026 increased to $107.17 effective January 1, 2026. The 2026 rate changes reflect the 3.3 percent increase in the CCPI from 2025.

The exemption for physicians paid on an hourly basis does not apply to employees in medical internships or resident programs, physician employees covered by collective bargaining agreements or veterinarians.

Pharmacists Exemption

Pharmacists are not automatically considered exempt professionals. To be exempt, pharmacists must individually meet the administrative or executive exemption tests.8 If they do not meet the administrative or executive exemption tests, they are nonexempt and are entitled to overtime, meal and break periods and all other wage and hour protections contained in the IWC Wage Orders.

Nurses Exemption

Registered nurses employed to engage in the practice of nursing do not meet the test for professional exemption unless they individually meet the criteria established for exemption as executive or administrative employees.9

However, certain advanced practice nurses are to be included in the professional exemption. Certified nurse midwives, certified nurse anesthetists and certified nurse practitioners may be exempt from overtime if they primarily engage in performing duties for which state certification is required. These employees must meet the other requirements established for the professional employee exemption, including the salary test and use of discretion and independent judgment.10

College Faculty Exemption

Employees providing instruction for a course or laboratory at a private, non-profit college or university may be classified as exempt under the professional exemption if they meet certain criteria.11 First, they must meet the professional exemption duties test described above, meaning they must be primarily engaged in an occupation commonly recognized as a learned or artistic profession and must customarily and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment in the performance of their duties.

The second requirement is a salary test. An employee can meet the salary test if the employee is paid either a monthly salary of two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment or, for a part-time faculty member, is paid by the course or laboratory taught at $152.10 for each classroom hour in 2026.

The rate increases for subsequent years will be based on a percentage increase to the state minimum wage. Payment for a “classroom hour” encompasses payment for all classroom or laboratory time, preparation, grading, office hours, and other course or laboratory-related work. The calculation is the same regardless of whether the course/laboratory is in person or virtual.

Artistic Professional Exemption

In California, relatively few individuals qualify for exemption as members of artistic professions. Most of those who exert sufficient control over the nature of their own work and over their work hours are self-employed in an artistic profession.

An individual involved in work that is creative must meet the requirements of the professional test to qualify for the artistic professional exemption. See “Professional Exemption Test” in Professional Exemption for more information.

Key points to remember about this test and how it may apply to artistic professionals are as follows:

• The employee must be primarily engaged in the performance of work that is original and creative in character in a recognized field of artistic endeavor12 (as opposed to work that can be produced by a person endowed with general manual or intellectual ability and training) and the result of which depends primarily on the employee’s invention, imagination or talent, or work that is an essential part of or necessarily incident to any of the above work.
  
  The term “recognized field of artistic endeavor” has been defined to include “such fields as music, writing, the theater, and the plastic and graphic arts;” and
• The work must be predominantly intellectual and varied in character (as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work).
• The employee must customarily and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment in the performance of duties.
• The employee must earn a monthly salary equivalent to no less than two times the state minimum wage for full-time employment. For purposes of exempt salary requirements, full-time employment is defined as 40 hours per week.13

Academic degrees are not required, but a specialized course of study of at least four years is generally one element involved in establishing a professional standing in the fine arts. This element of study by itself is not enough. Composers or vocal instrumental soloists may be exempt because of their wide-ranging discretionary powers, including control over their working conditions. However, members of an orchestra may not be exempt employees.

Some writers employed in the motion picture or broadcast industries possess sufficient discretionary powers to be exempt. Most do not, even when working at home, because of time limits, restricting outlines or other constraints on the creative aspects of their work.

1. DLSE Enforcement Policies and Interpretations Manual sec. 54.1