On January 15, 2025, the Supreme Court of the United States held that employers need only demonstrate that an employee is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) by a preponderance of the evidence, rejecting a higher evidentiary standard used by some courts.
In an eleven-page unanimous opinion in E.M.D. Sales, Inc. v. Carrera, the Supreme Court resolved the conflict between the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal over what standard of proof applies when employers seek to prove that employees are covered by one of the thirty-four exemptions to the FLSA. Six circuits—the Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, Tenth, and Eleventh—apply the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, but the Fourth Circuit, as it did in the underlying case, applied a more demanding “clear and convincing evidence” standard.
“We hold that the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard applies when an employer seeks to show that an employee is exempt from the minimum-wage and overtime-pay provisions of...
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