© 2025 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2025 ed. | 83 increase this threshold to $844 per week as of July 1, 2024 and to $1,128 per week as of January 1, 2025, but the rule is enjoined as of the date of publication. 2. The employee’s “primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work.”464 (a) Work Requiring Invention, Imagination, Originality, or Talent The requirement of invention, imagination, originality, or talent is what “distinguishes the creative professions from work that primarily depends on intelligence, diligence and accuracy.”465 The duties performed by employees in these professions vary widely, and the exemption for creative professionals depends on the extent of the invention, imagination, originality, or talent exercised by the employee. Determining whether the exemption applies, therefore, must be determined on a case-by-case basis.466 The requirements are generally met by the following individuals: Actors Musicians Composers Conductors Soloists Certain painters Writers Cartoonists Essayists Novelists 464 29 C.F.R. § 541.302(a). 465 29 C.F.R. § 541.302(c). 466 Id.
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