[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 29, Volume 3]
[Revised as of July 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 29CFR548.400]

[Page 262-263]
 
                             TITLE 29--LABOR
 
         CHAPTER V--WAGE AND HOUR DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
 
PART 548_AUTHORIZATION OF ESTABLISHED BASIC RATES FOR COMPUTING OVERTIME 
PAY--Table of Contents
 
                        Subpart B_Interpretations
 
Sec. 548.400  Procedures.

    (a) If an employer wants to use an established basic rate other than 
one of those authorized under Sec. 548.3, he must obtain specific prior 
approval from the Administrator. For example, if an employer wishes to 
compute overtime compensation for piece workers for each workweek in a 
4-week period at established basic rates which are the straight-time 
average hourly earnings for each employee for the immediately preceding 
4-week period, he should apply to the Administrator for authorization. 
The application for approval of such a basic rate should be addressed to 
the Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, U.S. Department of 
Labor, Washington, DC 20210. No particular form of application is 
required but the minimum necessary information outlined in Sec. 548.4 
should be included. The application may be made by an employer or a 
group of employers. If any of the employees covered by the application 
is represented by a collective bargaining agent, a joint application of 
the employer and the bargaining agent should be filed. It is not 
necessary to file separate applications for each employee. One 
application will cover as many employees as will be paid at the proposed 
basic rate or rates.
    (b) Prior approval of the Administrator is also required if the 
employer desires to use a basic rate or basic rates which come within 
the scope of a combination of two or more of the paragraphs in Sec. 
548.3 unless the basic rate or rates sought to be adopted meet the 
requirements of a single paragraph in Sec. 548.3. For instance, an 
employee may receive free lunches, the cost of which, by agreement or 
understanding, is not to be included in the rate used to

[[Page 263]]

compute overtime compensation. \17\ In addition, the employee may 
receive an attendance bonus which, by agreement or understanding, is to 
be excluded from the rate used to compute overtime compensation. \18\ 
Since these exclusions involve two paragraphs of Sec. 548.3, prior 
approval of the Administrator would be necessary unless the exclusion of 
the cost of the free lunches together with the attendance bonus do not 
affect the employee's overtime compensation by more than 50 cents a week 
on the average, in which case the employer and the employee may treat 
the situation as one falling within a single paragraph, Sec. 548.3(e).
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    \17\ See Sec. 548.304.
    \18\ See Sec. 548.305.

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(Sec. 1, 52 Stat. 1060, as amended, 29 U.S.C. 201, et seq.)

[20 FR 5682, Aug. 6, 1955, as amended at 21 FR 338, Jan. 18, 1956; 32 FR 
3294, Feb. 25, 1967]