# Salary vs hourly wage



## Stevelsc8721 (Feb 21, 2008)

Just went to a friends business for a project manager job and he pays by salary. Which means you can work 12 or more hours a day. He has all his crews set up this way, me thinks that laborers need the hourly pay and maybe managers can get the salary, sounds like there could be problems?

Any input on this would be appreciated


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## jmic (Dec 10, 2005)

I don't see it working for whole crews. But it all depends on the numbers (dollars).


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## mahlere (Aug 6, 2006)

me thinks the final call is with the NYS DOL...there are rules and guidelines for who can, can't, should, and shouldn't receive salary...

this is a good example of not playing by the rules...


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## mahlere (Aug 6, 2006)

jmic said:


> I don't see it working for whole crews. But it all depends on the numbers (dollars).


as old as you are, i don't think you can see the whole crew period...:laughing:


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## GregS (Oct 1, 2006)

Did they actually tell you you had to work 12 hours a day? That's illegal here unless it's for a maximum of I think 4 days such as shift work.

Call your Ministry/Department of Labour and see what they say.


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## MrHands (Nov 19, 2008)

Salaried employees are supposed to be given the responsibility of getting the assigned work done in whatever time it takes them. Somedays you may need 12 hours others only 4 hours. The salaried employee is also supposed to have the responsibility and the privilege of taking time off for a doctors appoint and not being penalized and of not necessarily being at the office or jobsite at 7:30 on the dot (or whenever). A salaried employee still receives pay during the slow months. A salaried employee receives paid vacations, sick days, and legal holidays. 

Unfortunately, many bosses use salary as a way of taking advantage of the system. An owner may know that his foreman will work MORE than 40 hours EVERY week, so he pays "salary" to beat the overtime costs. 

Look into your offer carefully, and go for a contract that spells out EXACTLY the benefits to YOU. 

It could be a nice situation or it could be sleezy.


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## SLSTech (Sep 13, 2008)

This should help clear up the issues for who is or isn't allowed to get a salary
http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html


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## buildpinnacle (Sep 2, 2008)

My Supt just moved from hourly to salary. He gets what he was making based on a 40 hr week, plus a new bonus schedule based on job profitability, company truck, and fuel. He also gets paid holidays and 1 wk paid vacation to start which will go to two after 2009. It is much easier for me to make him an overhead expense since he spends time at multiple projects every day checking on subs, progress, getting materials when necessary, etc. It was getting hard to charge his time out for my bookwork. His time is charged to the job when he does put bags on since we do inhouse framing.


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## nap (Jan 27, 2008)

mahlere said:


> me thinks the final call is with the NYS DOL...there are rules and guidelines for who can, can't, should, and shouldn't receive salary...
> 
> this is a good example of not playing by the rules...


Not true. Anybody can be paid salary. What is of concern is; does the person get paid overtime or not? An exempt (per DOL rules) person does not have to be paid overtime while a non-exempt employee does have to be paid OT.

there are rules that define who can be treated as expempt and who can. A typical worker cannot so they can be paid salary but they must also be paid overtime.

as well, if an employee is non-exempt, in New York, there are lunch break laws that must be followed although there are no rest period laws requiring anything beyond what the meal break law requires.

as to a limitation of how many hours can one be reqired to work:

there are none. an employer can demand any number of hours and as long as they are paying the appropriate OT when due and allowing lunch breaks per law.


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## nap (Jan 27, 2008)

> =MrHands;546018]Salaried employees are supposed to be given the responsibility of getting the assigned work done in whatever time it takes them. Somedays you may need 12 hours others only 4 hours. The salaried employee is also supposed to have the responsibility and the privilege of taking time off for a doctors appoint and not being penalized and of not necessarily being at the office or jobsite at 7:30 on the dot (or whenever). A salaried employee still receives pay during the slow months. A salaried employee receives paid vacations, sick days, and legal holidays.


for the most part, not true. A salaried employee can be required to work any amount of time. Depending on if you are exempt or non-exempt rules as to being able to be docked or not. From a friend on another forum



> If you are exempt, you can have your *salary* docked in the following circumstances (and ONLY in the following circumstances):
> 
> 1.) It is the first or last week of employment and you did not work the full week
> 2.) You are on FMLA
> ...





> You can ONLY be docked for partial day absences in the event of #2 - FMLA. However, in all 50 states it is legal for your employer to require the use of any paid leave; sick, vacation, PTO, etc. to the partial day absences (some limitations in California).


and



> If you are salaried, non-exempt, then they are not required by law to pay you when you do not work, regardless of whether they call you salaried or not. I will be the first to grant you that it makes no sense to call someone salaried and then *dock* them. But it is legal. (Of course, if you are salaried non-exempt, you have to be receiving overtime if you work over 40 hours a week.) The exception here would be if you were being paid on the fluctuating work week method, which is very rare. But in those rare circumstances, while you could not be docked for missing time, you would not get overtime either


 

You do not get "holiday pay" per se. If you are an exempt employee, you merely get your salary and if non-exempt, you can be docked pay for the missing day. Sick pay is the same (if less than 1 week for exempt and less than 1 day if non-exempt). Vacation pay is not required in any case (unless you do the less than 1 day/less than 1 week thing)



> Unfortunately, many bosses use salary as a way of taking advantage of the system. An owner may know that his foreman will work MORE than 40 hours EVERY week, so he pays "salary" to beat the overtime costs.


again, salary does not define if OT is required or not.


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## nap (Jan 27, 2008)

SLSTech said:


> This should help clear up the issues for who is or isn't allowed to get a salary
> http://www.flsa.com/coverage.html


actrually, no, it doesn;t. It states who gets OT or not. If you go to the link on the bottom of that page, you will read where it states anybody can be paid salary. There are just different rules depending upon exempt/non-exempt status.


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