Most companies will have you sign in and out of work by using a digitized time clock.  Sometimes you will be given a paper time card to use while other times you will record your hours using a computer or your very own plastic card that you swipe through a recording system.

When you are hired as an hourly employee your wage or rate of pay is the amount of money you receive for a unit of regular work time.  Eight hours per day is the most common schedule for full time workers.  Part time workers generally, but not always, work at a reduced schedule.  Federal law mandates that the lowest wage a worker over the age of 20 can be paid is $7.25, with the exception of the restaurant service industry.

Workers who rely on tips like waiters and waitresses earn $2.13 per hour.  This is the rate per hour mandated by the Federal government for tipped employees.

There is also a Youth Minimum wage.  The youth minimum wage is authorized by the FLSA, which allows employers to pay employees under 20 years of age a lower wage for 90 calendar days after they are first employed. Any wage rate above $4.25 an hour may be paid to eligible workers during this 90-day period.

When you work more than 40 hours you are entitled to overtime pay.  Overtime pay is equal to at least 1.5 times the amount of your regular rate.

When you transition from a job into a career it is likely that you will be paid a salary.  A salary  is a fixed amount of money paid to an employee in return for the work that they perform.

A company will use your timecard and your rate of pay to calculate the amount of money due to you on payday.   Some common pay periods are:

• Weekly—you will be paid once a week on the same day on a repeating predetermined day(example:  every Friday)
• Bi-weekly—you will be paid every other week on a repeating predetermined day (example:  every other Friday)
• Monthly–you will be paid once per month on a repeating predetermind day (example the last Friday of each month.)

Discussion Questions–Choose one discussion question to answer for the class.  After you have answered the discussion question you must comment on the responses posted by your classmates to the other two questions you did not answer.

Please use your personal knowledge and the Internet to find answers to the following questions.  Please e-mail your answers to me in a word document.

1.)  In 2013, Obama proposed that the minimum wage should be changed.  How much did Obama propose it should be changed to?  Do you think it should be changed?

2.)  Do you think it is fair to younger workers to be paid less than the minimum wage for the first 90 days on the job?  Why or why not?

3.)   When you eat in a restaurant it is common to tip your waiter or waitress.  What is the suggested percentage that you should tip a good waiter or waitress.   Do you think it is fair that tipped workers are only paid $2.13 per hour?  Why or why not?