Briefly discuss the main bases of compensation, including hourly, piecework, salaried, and exempt vs. nonexempt.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Work performed in most private, public, and not-for-profit organizations has traditionally been compensated based on hourly work. These employees are classified as hourly employees, or wage earners, and are normally paid only for the time they work.Piecework compensation, in which employees are paid according to the number of units they produce, is another kind of compensation, though it is far less prevalent than hourly work as a basis for compensating employees.Those whose compensation is computed on the basis of weekly, biweekly, or monthly pay periods are classified as salaried employees. Salaried employees, unlike hourly employees, are generally paid the same for each pay period, even though they occasionally may work more hours or fewer than the regular number of hours in a period. They also usually receive certain benefits not provided to hourly employees.Another basis for compensation centers on whether employees are classified as nonexempt or exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Nonexempt employees are covered by the act and must be paid at a rate of one and a half times their regular pay rate for time worked in excess of 40 hours in their workweek. Most hourly workers employed in interstate commerce are considered nonexempt workers under the FLSA. Employees not covered by the overtime provision of the FLSA are classified as exempt employees. The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) considers employees as exempt when their primary duty includes "the exercise of discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance."