5 CFR § 551.207 - Professional exemption criteria.
---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t5/s551.207"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "5 CFR § 551.207 - Professional exemption criteria."
title_number: 5
title_name: "Administrative Personnel"
section_number: "551.207"
section_name: "Professional exemption criteria."
chapter_name: "OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT"
subchapter_number: "B"
subchapter_name: "CIVIL SERVICE REGULATIONS"
part_number: "551"
part_name: "PAY ADMINISTRATION UNDER THE FAIR LABOR STANDARDS ACT"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "5 U.S.C. 5542(c); Sec. 4(f) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended by Pub. L. 93-259, 88 Stat. 55 (29 U.S.C. 204f)."
cfr_part: "551"
---
# 551.207 Professional exemption criteria.
To qualify for the professional exemption, an employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring knowledge of an advanced type in a field of science or learning customarily acquired by a prolonged course of specialized intellectual instruction or requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor. Learned professionals, creative professionals, and computer employees are described in §§ 551.208, 551.209, and 551.210, respectively.