12-170 C.M.R. ch. 16, § III - Fee Basis Payment

The requirements for exemption as a professional or administrative employee may be met by an employee who is compensated on a fee basis as well as by one who is paid on a salary basis. Such arrangements are characterized by the payment of an agreed sum for a single job regardless of the time required for its completion. These payments resemble piecework payments with the important distinction that generally speaking a fee payment is made for the kind of job which is unique rather than for a series of jobs which are repeated an indefinite number of times and for which payment on an identical basis is made over and over again. Payments based on the number of hours or days worked and not on the accomplishment of a given single task are not considered payments on a fee basis.

A. The adequacy of a fee payment. In determining whether payment is at the rate consistent with these rules, the amount paid to the employee will be tested by reference to a standard workweek of 40 hours. Thus compliance will be tested in each case of a fee payment by determining whether the payment is at a rate that would amount to at least that set in 26 MRSA Sec.663(K) if 40 hours were worked.

Notes

12-170 C.M.R. ch. 16, § III