California Classifies Adjunct Faculty as Exempt Professionals

California classified adjunct faculty members at colleges and universities as professional employees who are exempt from state wage and hour laws under a bill signed Sept. 9 by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).

The measure (A.B. 736), which took effect Sept. 9, put in place rules that include a duties test and salary requirements for the classification to be met. Under the rules, adjunct faculty members must:

• be primarily engaged in an occupation that is commonly recognized as a learned or artistic profession,

• customarily and regularly exercise discretion and independent judgment about the performance of their duties, and

• receive a monthly salary that is at least twice the state minimum wage for at least 40 hours a week.

Alternatively, such instructors must receive for preparatory work, classroom or laboratory time, reading time and office hours, and other related work at least $117 in 2020, $126 in 2021, $135 in 2022, and an inflation-adjusted amount in subsequent years.

Employees are to be separately compensated for noncourse-related work for the employer.

The measure aims to transform qualifying part-time faculty members from hourly workers into salaried workers with a threshold minimum salary.