The United States Department of Labor (DOL) Wage & Hour Division has announced in their Administrator's Interpretation No. 2010-1 that commissioned loan officers will now be granted overtime pay. The DOL interprets the application of the Fair Labor Standard Act's (FLSA) administrative exemption to loan officers,

finding that "mortgage loan officers typically have the primary duty of making sales on behalf of their employer; as such; their primary duty is not directly related to the management or general business operations of their employer or their employer's customers."

This ruling is a departure from past DOL statements regarding loan officers' eligibility for overtime pay, and specifically withdraws the DOL's Sept. 8, 2006 Opinion Letter, which held that loan officers could be exempt from overtime pay under the administrative exemption.

After an analysis of the applicable statutory and regulatory provisions and a thorough review of the case law that has continued to develop on the exemption, the DOL Administrator issued its interpretation to provide needed guidance on the issue.

The DOL's interpretation that employees who perform the typical job duties of a mortgage loan officer do not qualify as bona fide administrative employees exempt under section 13(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. § 213(a)(1).

DOL's investigations and the facts established that the following are typical of a mortgage loan officers job duties:

?Mortgage loan officers receive internal leads and contact potential customers or receive contacts from customers generated by direct mail or other marketing activity.

?Mortgage loan officers collect required financial information from customers they contact or who contact them, including information about income, employment history, assets, investments, homeownership, debts, credit history, prior bankruptcies, judgments, and liens. They also run credit reports.

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Click here for the Wage and Hour Division of their Interpretation of the Existing law  

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