Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Pay Cuts




Suppose person X is a dressmaker. She works for a company that sells dresses. She gets paid $X.XX a day to make dresses; she works at home and the company picks up the dresses each day. Her hours are flexible since she works at home, but she is expected to make four complete dresses each day. The company charges $YY.YY for each dress it sells. Then one day, the company tells X that she must now make eight complete dresses each day to receive the same $X.XX a day. The company continues to charge $YY.YY for each dress it sells. Does that amount to a cut in pay for X?

Suppose person Y is a bootmaker. He works for a company that sells boots. He gets paid $Z.ZZ a day to make boots; he works at the boot factory and is expected to make four boots a day. The company charges $WWW.WWW for each boot it sells. Then one day, the company tells Y that he is now expected to make five boots a day to receive the same pay. The company continues to charge $WW.WW for each boot it sells. Is that a pay cut for Y?

Person Z is a teacher. Z teaches online courses for a college working primarily from home. Z is paid $VVVV.VV for each course taught. Previously, each of Z’s courses only had between 15 and 30 students enrolled, with courses having less than 15 students being cancelled and enrollment capped at 30. The college has decided to change enrollment requirements to have between 60 and 100 students enrolled, with courses not meeting the minimum enrollment being cancelled as before and enrollments now being capped at 100. The college continues to pay Z the same $VVVV.VV for each course taught. Is that a pay cut for Z?

One can view pay from the perspective of the employer or from the perspective of the person being paid. Does it matter which perspective one has? How did you answer these questions?

No comments:

Post a Comment