Originally Posted by kfahmi

Ah, I didn't think about pro athletes, that's an interesting data point.

As for our employees, they are all freelancers (contractors) and are paid hourly, according to whatever hours they work. Before each project we give them an 'hours not to exceed' number. Generally they work 40h/week, but often work less, depending on the project. We generally don't ask them to work more than 40h/ week.

There's no way for them to volunteer to work more hours/week and earn more money; it depends entirely on client needs. In a crunch time, yes, we will ask them if they want to work over 40h/ week. If not, we will bring in other folks to cover the excess.

There is no vacation pay, sick pay, or benefits such as health insurance. But the rates we pay are high enough that our contractors simply purchase their own insurance.

Some projects are as short as a weekend, while the longest one we've done was 11 continuous months. That's not bad pay for the contractors when you're billing 40h/ week for 11 months.

We don't pay a higher rate for OT, but our compensation is generous (between $70-$100/hr depending on skills, experience, and the nature of the project.

Regardless of the rates, though, the pay is simple. We pay for actual hours worked. From the time they show up till the time they go home, not counting lunch.

Which is a lot simpler to figure out, and IMHO makes much more sense than the way the airline industry does it.