Specialty operations are done under part 137.
jrav8r, I sent you a PM, but in case anyone else is curious:
In the LAC General Operations Manual it lists New Hire Employment Requirements as:
5,000 hours of experience as a Pilot.
An ATP Certificate.
Current Class I Medical Certificate.
4 year degree preferred.
Simulator flight evaluation.
I know for a fact they're very flexible on those requirements, and have hired people with closer to 3000 hours when the need arose and the individual had good, challenging flying experience. They have also hired individuals without an ATP, as long as they, again, had good experience and had their writtens done. As far as the sim check goes, I didn't have one and as far as I know, they have never required one for hire. I'm guessing that is an artifact left over from a previous company's manual, well plagiarized.