Page:Helix Energy Solutions Group, Inc. v. Hewitt.pdf/16

12 that method from “[p]ayments based on the number of hours or days worked.” §541.605(a). Still another says that for one class of employees, the salary-level test “may be met by compensation on an hourly basis” of “not less than $27.63 an hour.” §541.600(d). And as discussed below, §604(b) refers to earnings computed “on an hourly, a daily or a shift basis” as distinct from “amount[s] paid on a salary basis regardless of the number of hours, days or shifts worked.” For now, the point is simply that all those regulations use the language of “basis” in a similar vein—to describe the unit used to determine payment. And consistent with that usage, §602(a)’s demand that a salaried worker get a preset, fixed amount “on a weekly[] or less frequent basis” means that his paycheck reflects how many weeks—not days or hours—he has worked.

The “weekly basis” phrase thus works hand in hand with the rest of §602(a). Every part of the provision describes those paid a weekly rate, rather than a daily or hourly one. Recall that an employee, to meet the salary-basis test, must “receive [his] full salary for any week” in which he works at all. That “predetermined amount” cannot be changed because of “the number of days or hours” an employee actually labors. The amount must instead be paid “without regard to [that] number.” Or said otherwise, the amount must be paid on “a weekly basis”—again, by the week, not by the day or hour. All that regulatory language—each phrase adding onto and reinforcing the others—reflects the standard meaning of a “salary,” which connotes a steady and predictable stream of pay, week after week after week. Put it all together and a daily-rate worker does not qualify under §602(a) as a salaried employee—even if (like Hewitt) his daily rate is high.