© 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. | 81 same knowledge through apprenticeship and has been admitted to practice law in the state in which he or she works.457 This exemption does not apply to occupations in which most employees acquire their skill by experience rather than by advanced specialized intellectual instruction.458 (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 preprofessional 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 preprofessional 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 Teachers whose primary duty is “teaching, tutoring, instructing, or lecturing in the activity of imparting knowledge and who [are] employed and engaged in this activity as a teacher in an educational establishment”459 Lawyers, scientists, and doctors with valid licenses or certificates permitting them to practice, who are engaged in the practice of law or medicine 457 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 facts as to whether position required prolonged, advanced study). 458 29 C.F.R. § 541.301(d). 459 29 C.F.R. § 541.303(a); DLS Opinion Letter MW-2004-001 (Dec. 16, 2004). Teachers are not subject to salary basis requirements. See Section V.A.1 (Minimum Compensation Requirements).
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTkwMTQ4