# Creative professional — FLSA overtime exemption duties tests by category (29 CFR Part 541)

For Creative professional, cfr section is § 541.302; cfr citation is 29 CFR Part 541, recorded from its source on 2026-08-19; source re-checked 2026-09-16.

- **Exemption category:** Creative professional _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **CFR section:** § 541.302 _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **Duties test:** To qualify for the creative professional exemption, an employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work. The exemption does not apply to work which can be produced by a person with general manual or intellectual ability and training. _(verified: appears in the quote below)_
- **CFR citation:** 29 CFR Part 541 _(our reading, not quoted from the source)_

## What the source says

> § 541.302 Creative professionals. (a) To qualify for the creative professional exemption, an employee's primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor as opposed to routine mental, manual, mechanical or physical work. The exemption does not apply to work which can be produced by a person with general manual or intellectual ability and training. (b) To qualify for exemption as a creative professional, the work performed must be “in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.” This includes such fields as music, writing, acting and the graphic arts.

## Source

- https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-29/subtitle-B/chapter-V/subchapter-A/part-541

Last verified: 2026-09-16. Review by: 2027-02-15.
Part of [FLSA overtime exemption duties tests by category (29 CFR Part 541)](https://referencesource.org/flsa-overtime-exemption-duties-tests/).