Legal Question in Business Law in Texas

Re: Salary

The short answer to your question regarding whether you may be paid at a minimum wage for not working a forty hour week is no.

Many things may determine how the employer compensates an employee. Absent a written contract, a salaried employee is paid by the day as opposed to a wage employee who is paid by the hour. Thus, a salaried employee is not entitled to over-time pay for hours worked outside of the traditional 40-hour workweek. However, if an salaried employee works less the agreed up 40 hour work week an employer is required to pay the employee for the days actually worked at the agreed upon rate. In other words if the employee and employer had agreed upon a base salary of $400 dollar per week, then the employer should pay the employee $80.00 per day for each day the employee actually worked. If the employee worked less than the standard five (5) day week, for a total of 32 hours, the employee should be paid on amount based on dividing the total amount due, if the employee had worked a total of five (5) days, by five (5) to determine the daily pay rate and then multiplying the daily pay rate by the number of days the employee actually worked. It must also be noted that a salaried employee may also be entitled to be compensated for sick day or a personal day if they work less than five (5) days.

If you are a wage employee you must be paid at the agreed upon rate for each hour that you actually worked and the hourly pay rate cannot be adjusted based solely on the number of actually hours worked. So if the agreed upon wage is $10 per hour then you should be paid $10 per hour for each hour worked up to 40 hours per week. Each state maintains a labor and employment agency and you should consult the agency in your particular state for more specific information as to your rights to seek the appropriate pay for the actual time worked.