Piece Rate Pay Can Cause Cable Installers to Miss Out on Overtime
Piece rate pay in the field of cable installation occurs when a company only pays the installer for the jobs that he or she completes. For example, if the employee installs five cable boxes on Monday and four each Tuesday through Friday, the installer would be paid a flat rate for 21 installations.
But what about the time that it took for the cable installer to travel to the customer's house? Or the time he spent ordering supplies? Shouldn't the installer get paid for that time, too, since the employee is doing actual work?
Even though the Fair Labor Standards Act requires cable installers to be paid for all of the work they perform and the training they must undergo, there are still companies out there that try and beat the system by not paying their employees they wages they are entitled to receive.
Common problems in the cable installation field Many times the use of piece rate pay prevents the installers from making minimum wage.
The FLSA requires that all employees must be paid the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. But if an installer is paid at a piece rate, and then happens to not install or do any "piece work" one day, it could affect his overall paycheck, dropping him below $7.25 per hour.
Let's apply this incorrect pay rate to real life.
Suppose Chris is a cable installer paid on a piece rate basis. He is paid $50 for every cable installation he completes, and the company he works for, CableX, assures Chris that he will have the opportunity to install at least two cable systems each day, which should take him 40 hours per week. Under this scenario, Chris should make $400 per week, or $10 per hour.
But one week, four out of his eight installation appointments cancelled, and Chris had three training sessions, had to order supplies one day, and also had to clean out his truck, which caused him to work 42 hours. But instead of making his usual $400, he was only paid $200 for the installations he completed, which ended up equaling only $5 per hour. Under the FLSA, he should have made at least $7.75 per hour, or $310 for the week, plus overtime. Two hours of overtime at minimum wage would have given him an additional $38.75 that week, for a total of $348.75. He missed out on $148.75!
Piece rate pay is not against the law, as long as the employee is receiving fair overtime and fair wages. If you are a cable installer who is not receiving fair wages because of piece rate pay, you need information. Contact the Texas fair overtime attorneys at Kennedy Hodges, LLP for your free copy of The Ten Biggest Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Wage and Overtime Claim by calling 888.449.2068. Or fill out our online form to schedule your free case evaluation where an attorney will sit down with you, review your claim, and provide you with the best solution to protect your paycheck.
