PHILADELPHIA—Helicopter pilots for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey are not “professional” employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act and, thus, are due overtime pay, a federal appeals court ruled.

The decision Wednesday by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia in Michael G. Pignataro; Thompson R. Chase vs. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey affirmed a New Jersey federal judge’s decision.

The Port Authority had classified the pilots as “professional” employees under the FLSA, making them exempt from overtime pay. Among other things, the Port Authority cited another appeals court ruling that airplane pilots should be regarded as “professional” and exempt from overtime.

In April 2004, the pilots filed suit alleging they were improperly denied overtime pay for the previous three years, according to court documents. In August 2008, the district court entered a final, summary judgment that the pilots are not professional employees under the FLSA. The court awarded Mr. Pignataro more than $87,000 and Mr. Chase nearly $65,000 in overtime and prejudgment interest based on two years of missed pay.

The FLSA mandates that if an employee works more than 40 hours a week, the employee must be compensated for overtime hours at a rate at least one-and-one-half times the employee’s regular rate. It also states that employees who work in a “professional capacity,” however, are exempt from this rule.

The Port Authority had contended that helicopter pilots have specialized knowledge and unique skills, but the appeals court ruled that such knowledge does not qualify for the “learned professional exemption” of the FSLA because the “pilots’ knowledge and skills were acquired through experience and supervised training as opposed to intellectual, academic instruction.”

In its earlier ruling, the district court said the pilots’ flight certificates require specialized instruction beyond high school education, but do not constitute advanced academic degrees. The lower court said the helicopter pilots are “merely highly trained technicians…and therefore do not qualify as professional employees under the FLSA.”