What are the pros and cons of salary versus hourly classification

From what angle?

Salary and Hourly compensation means exempt and non exempt. What it is talking about is whether the employee is exempt from the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act).

If the employee is exempt than he/she is not paid overtime pay . They are paid by the job and not by the hour thus their salary is for the job they are doing and is not judged in hourly increments. They cannot be docked for partial days off for doctor's appointments or other partial days off. They can be docked for one full day off. If the company pays PTO or vacation time the employer can use that time to pay for the 1/2 day or whole day absence. If they have no time to cover the partial day absence than they still have to be paid for it.

If the employee is hourly they are paid for each hour they work on an hourly basis. They are non exempt which means they are not exempt from the FLSA. They also must be paid overtime for all time worked in excess of 40 hours. If they are off they do not get paid. If the company offers PTO or vacation they are allowed to use it when they are off.

The exempt or non exempt is determined by the FLSA standards. The employer can make anyone non exempt and pay them hourly even if they meet the exempt classification. The employer cannot make everyone exempt. To classify an employee as exempt from the FLSA and overtime certain standards must be met.

You can read about the FLSA and the exemptions at the Department of Labor Website:

U.S. Department of Labor - Employment Standards Administration (ESA) - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - Compliance Assistance-Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)

Shirley

Salary can be nice. But I don't like the salary where you work 40 hrs one week and 70 hrs the next and make what has been cited as "chinese overtime". Chines o.t. is a fractional amount of pay for overtime hours. Which SUCKS. Be sure you weigh the options of how you will be paid. On the up side of salary, if you are sick and miss three days one week, you make the same amount for working the other two days when you weren't sick.