An undertaker who worked full time and was required to be on-call five nights a week to pick up corpses is a “learned professional” who is not entitled to overtime pay, a Western District judge has held. Judge Michael A. Telesca applied a “duties test” as well as a “salary test” in concluding that Ronald G. Rowe does not qualify for overtime under the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Mr. Rowe initiated the claim after he was fired for neglecting to remove a piece of jewelry from a body he cremated and then attempted to conceal his mistake from his employer, the Olthof Funeral Home in Elmira, records show. Judge Telesca noted that Mr. Rowe had been paid a salary of more than $455 per week.
