Pay by the day?

NickfromWI

NickfromWI

Participating member
Location
Los Angeles, CA
Is it legal to pay employees to the day?

Seems like it's bad for the employee. The employer has no incentive not to work late and squeeze a little more out of his workers.

I see many reasons why an employer would wanna do pay by the day, but are there reasons why a employee WOULD want it?

love
nick
 
I will guarantee you that it will generally be longer days than if you were hourly.

Some guys have day rate up to a preset amount of hours (say 8)then extra hourly rate if it goes over.

Over here there is no award or standard or anything for tree workers, cowboy county!
 
I've been paying by the day for a long time now. With me, I will have a climber on a job and pay him the same money if it is a four hour day or an 8 hour day. The only times we work real late is if it is storm damage or some kind of emergency or something. In that case everybody gets more money (including me!). I figure I am lucky to have great skilled, competent folks helping out with my jobs, so I make sure to reflect that in paying. Sorta like buying good will. That way if we should work late sometimes everybody is happy. This usually works but sometimes does not with folks who dont understand that they will come out ahead in the long run with me. In that case they dont stick around too long.
I guess it might be different with a large production company. But I am small and the system works. Most of the folks have been with me for a long time (years) now.
Frans
 
TCIA did an article not that long ago about paying by the day.

It is legal but it has to be done a certain way.

If I remember correctly you must pay the same amount per day that the employees work whether they work 1 hour or 10 hours.

Even though you pay by the day, if they work more than 40 hours in a week then they need to be paid overtime on those extra hours. (you will probably need a good HR or Labor Lawyer to figure those calculations tho!)

Some people are paying daily rates with bonuses for work accomplished beyond that alloted for the day...that is something to consider too.

I'm leary of people who want hourly and insist on overtime each week. Seen a lot of slacking just to make sure there is something to do during overtime.

People just don't realize how much they and thier time are worth and how to get paid accordingly. But that may be a topic for another discussion at a later time.
 
[ QUOTE ]
I'm leary of people who want hourly and insist on overtime each week. Seen a lot of slacking just to make sure there is something to do during overtime.

[/ QUOTE ]

In that same light, I am leary of employers who pay by the day, and are happy to consistently squeak 9-12 hours a day out of their workers, for that same daily rate.

So it seems that the "day rate" should be for an 8 hour day. Anything over that should involve overtime.

love
nick
 
[quote
In that same light, I am leary of employers who pay by the day, and are happy to consistently squeak 9-12 hours a day out of their workers, for that same daily rate.

So it seems that the "day rate" should be for an 8 hour day. Anything over that should involve overtime.

love
nick

[/ QUOTE ]

Nick your point is well considered, but, (ain't there always a but) FSLA Overtime Rules still apply.

If the employer is playing by the rules then even with 12 hour days after 3.333 days the crew would be making overtime.

If I remember the articly correctly, along with the day rate comes the freedom to knock off early when you have gotten the work done.

Day rates are not the same as salary. FSLA regulates non-exempt employee wages.

I don't know too many workers who wouldn't jump at the chance to knock off work a half, maybe even a full, hour early and still get paid for the full day.

Get a crew that wants to finish early and have one slacker among them and peer pressure will adjust the slacker's attitude pretty quick don't ya think?

I think everyone benefits from an incentive to work more efficiently. The crew, the business owner, even the customer.

I've been on both sides of the fence. Still too many people out there just "putting in my 8,10,12 hours" as if all they have to do is be there.

I remember working at a warehouse as a kid. If all the trucks were unloaded before quitting time everyone became scarce just waiting for the timeclock to hit "quitting time." Or worse, if the boss found you he'd give you some worthless "makework" task just to keep you busy.

About 2 minutes before that magical moment people would come out of the woodwork just to punch out and get a "full 8."

I can't help but think that if those people had the option of being paid for the day and could leave when they had done thier alloted work then they would have finished a whole lot earlier and they could have put thier extra time to better use than by being imprisoned by "da man" until thier 8 hours was up.

Well, there I go again...babbling on...sorry 'bout that :)
 
Three hours today.

I can't believe I used to slave 10+ hours a day doing this!

I musta been crazy.
 
Paying by the day is great for some jobs. But you need some quality control. I've got salary for years now, and when I was younger I can remember doing some poor work just so I could get the job done and go home.
 
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