An employee earns $9 per hour plus $0.10 per hour for hours worked after 7:00 p.m. If the employee works from 2:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m., with an unpaid meal break from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, what is the employee's weekly gross pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act?

• A. $361
• B. $364
• C. $362
• D. $360

Answer: (C)

Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, pay is calculated by applying the appropriate hourly rate to hours actually worked, and unpaid meal breaks do not count as hours worked. Here, hours before 7:00 p.m. are paid at $9 per hour, while hours after 7:00 p.m. are paid at $9.10 per hour due to the $0.10 premium.

Each weekday the schedule yields 4 hours from 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at $9, which is 4 × 9 = $36. The meal break from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. is unpaid, so it’s not counted. From 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. is 4 hours at $9.10, which is 4 × 9.10 = $36.40. Daily total: $36 + $36.40 = $72.40.

Weekly pay for five days: $72.40 × 5 = $362.00.

An alternate way to see it is: 40 base hours at $9 = $360, plus the premium for evening hours: 4 hours per day × $0.10 × 5 days = $2, for a total of $362.