I am currently working in the state of CA as a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern. Basically, this means that I am working as a therapist, at a much smaller salary because I need to be supervised and cannot be considered an independent contractor. As a result, my employer has filed me as an exempt employee. I am not sure if this filing is correct because I understand that you need to meet 3 different criteria to be considered exempt. Interns are registered with the state board and are considered to be engaged in an occupation that is a learned profession, so we satisfy that requirement. Next, we continually use discretion and independent judgment although we are heavily supervised by a licensed psychologist, so once again...we satisfy that requirement. However, we do not satisfy the third requirement. We are paid on an hourly basis for the work we conduct. There are weeks where we work slightly less then 40 hours and are paid accordingly (the hours we work are typically not under 32, unless we take days off for personal vacation) and there are weeks were we work more then 40 hours and are paid accordingly. We do not receive any medical benefits, sick time accrual, paid holidays, vacation time, etc. We are, however, paid exactly 2 times the state minimum wage. I'm not sure if I am missing some other category that we fall under, or if I am incorrect in my understanding of an exempt status. I would like to be sure I am correct before I speak with my employer...any assistance would be greatly appreciated!!!

