That's not mean. It's just the Fair Labor Standards Act talking.
One of the more misunderstood parts of the FLSA's administrative exemption — the one that supposedly covers "office" workers — is which officer workers it actually covers. The test sounds deceptively simple: to be exempt, an employee must exercise discretion and independent judgment in matters of significance to the business. Most people with a desk, a computer, and a job title ending in "coordinator," "specialist," or "administrator" think they qualify.
Spoiler: they don't.
This exemption is about authority and impact, not paperwork or task complexity.
- A bookkeeper who records transactions and reconciles accounts isn't exempt. They follow established procedures.
- A CFO, on the other hand, who decides how the company allocates capital, manages risk, and advises leadership on financial strategy — that's "discretion and independent judgment" on "matters of significance."
The FLSA's administrative exemption doesn't turn on who’s sitting in the office — it turns on who's steering the ship. The office manager who orders toner isn't the same as the operations director who decides whether the company needs a new ERP system. The customer service rep following a script isn't the same as the client manager who can rewrite the script. The marketing specialist who posts content from a pre-approved calendar is qualitatively different from the marketing manager who creates the campaign strategy.
The line isn’t between "blue collar" and "white collar." It's between doing the work and deciding what work gets done.
So, before you assume your "salaried" employees are "exempt," remember: under the FLSA, importance isn't self-declared — it's earned through real authority, real judgment, and real influence over the direction of the business.