Mass-Peculiarities: An Employers Guide to Wage & Hour Law in the Bay State 2022 Edition

76 | Massachusetts Wage & Hour Peculiarities, 2022 ed. © 2022 Seyfarth Shaw LLP Example Method 2: An employee who regularly receives $20.00 per piece of completed work would be entitled to $30.00 per piece of work finished during the overtime hours (1.5 x $20.00 per piece = $30.00 per piece). b. Day Rates and Job Rates An employer may pay an employee a flat sum for a day’s work or for performing a particular job without regard to the number of hours worked in the day or at the job. If an employer pays an employee based on a job or day rate, the employee’s regular rate is determined by adding all of the day rates or job rates paid during the workweek and dividing the sum by the total number of hours worked in that workweek. 419 The employee must then be paid one-half of the regular rate for all hours worked over forty in the workweek. 420 Example: An employee for a housekeeping service company is compensated based on a job rate of $100.00 for every house cleaned. In one week, the employee cleans 9 houses, and spends 5 hours cleaning each house. The employee’s regular rate is calculated by dividing the total compensation received for the week, in this case, $900.00 ($100.00 per house x 9 houses = $900.00), by the total number of hours worked, in this case, 45 hours. Thus, the employee’s regular rate would be $20.00 per hour ($900.00 ÷ 45 hours = $20.00), and the employee would be entitled to an additional $50.00 of overtime pay (.5 x $20.00 x 5 hours). c. Semi-Monthly or Monthly Salary An employee’s regular rate of pay is based on pay for a work week . Thus, where an employee is paid a salary on a monthly or semi-monthly basis, an employer must first determine what the employee’s weekly salary would be. For an employee paid on a semi-monthly basis, the employee’s weekly salary is determined by multiplying the employee’s semi-monthly salary by 24 (the number of semi-monthly periods in a year), and then dividing that number by 52 (the number of weeks in a year). 421 For an employee paid on a monthly basis, the employee’s weekly salary is determined by multiplying his or her monthly salary by 12 (the number of months in a year), and then dividing that number by 52 (the number of weeks per year). 422 To determine the employee’s regular rate, an employer must then divide the weekly salary by the number of hours in a regular workweek. 423 Example 1: An employee is paid on a semi-monthly basis and receives $1,600 each pay period. The employee’s regular workweek is 35 hours, and the employee and employer have agreed that the salary is intended to cover only those 35 hours. 419 29 C.F.R. § 778.112. 420 Id. 421 29 C.F.R. § 778.113(b). 422 Id. 423 Id.