Excluded employees
For purposes of subsection (r) and for purposes of determining the number of employees in the top-paid group, the following employees shall be excluded—
(A)#
employees who have not completed 6 months of service,
(B)#
employees who normally work less than 17½ hours per week,
(C)#
employees who normally work during not more than 6 months during any year,
(D)#
employees who have not attained age 21, and
(E)#
except to the extent provided in regulations, employees who are included in a unit of employees covered by an agreement which the Secretary of Labor finds to be a collective bargaining agreement between employee representatives and the employer.
Except as provided by the Secretary, the employer may elect to apply subparagraph (A), (B), (C), or (D) by substituting a shorter period of service, smaller number of hours or months, or lower age for the period of service, number of hours or months, or age (as the case may be) than that specified in such subparagraph.