Protect Yourself By Knowing How You Are Paid

Protect Yourself By Knowing How You Are Paid

As an employee, you should know the difference between daily rate, overtime, and piece-rate. Without understanding how you are paid, you may not fully comprehend what you are entitled to. For instance, certain jobs may be exempt from overtime pay—but the majority of American workers are not.

There’s a possibility that some workers may be working overtime without receiving adequate compensation. Employers who do not pay their workers overtime still owe that money. This could be in addition to fines for intentional violations.

What Is A Daily Rate?

Daily rates are also referred to as day rates. Unlike an hourly employee, someone who received a daily rate is going to get a flat amount of money regardless of the hours she works.

Although overtime will be explained further in the next section, it is important to bring it up here. If you receive a set amount of money per day without working a set amount of hours, are you still eligible for overtime? Daily rate workers can still be entitled to overtime.

Overtime Laws In Florida

Florida’s overtime laws are the same as Federal labor laws. Employees will either be exempt or non-exempt. If you are a non-exempt employee who works more than 40 hours a week, you are entitled to overtime.

The next step is to determine which one you are. An easy guideline is that exempt employees usually receive a salary whereas non-exempt employees are paid hourly. This is a broad generalization. To be more specific, there are requirements that employees must meet to be considered exempt. This is to prevent employers from misclassifying—intentionally or otherwise—an employee to save money on overtime payments.

  • Salary – Exempt employees are paid an annual salary.
  • Totals – There is a salary threshold that employees must earn. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets these limits each year. They are broken down by weekly and yearly totals.
  • Responsibilities –  Exempt employees typically hold positions that require specialized education, skill, and knowledge.

Piece-Rate

Instead of paying employees by the year or by hours worked, some employers choose to pay their employees by the number of things they create, build, assemble, etc.

This may be done to inspire workers to work more. For every unit they put forth, they get paid. It is in their best financial interest to produce efficiently. And if an employer knows how many units they need to produce, they can quickly calculate their labor costs.

But the question for these workers is the same as the daily rates employees. Are they entitled to minimum wage and overtime pay? Absolutely. When you divide the amount you receive by the number of hours worked, it still has to exceed the state and federal minimum wage laws.

This also extends to overtime as well. Workers who exceed a 40-hour workweek are entitled to be compensated for it.

Feldman Legal Group

If you believe you are not being compensated correctly, contact the Feldman Legal Group to request your assessment. We investigate unlawful employment practices to include unfair pay, wrongful termination, and harassment. We can also be reached at (877) 946-8293.