Insights
Client Alert
Auer Deference Significantly Curtailed in Supreme Courts Ruling That Pharmaceutical Sales Representatives Are Exempt Outside Sales People Under FLSA
June 26, 2012
BY NEAL D. MOLLEN, BARBARA JOHNSON, & BRYAN STILLWAGON
In its decision last week in Christopher v. SmithKline Beecham Corp., the Supreme Court addressed the merits of an FLSA "white collar" exemption for the first time in decades, holding that pharmaceutical sales representatives qualify for the outside sales exemption. The Court also sharply curtailed the use of amicus curiae briefs as a means for federal agencies to obtain deference for their interpretation of their own regulations.