Employees often receive pay in addition to their regular wage or salary, such as overtime pay, merit-based awards, bonuses, profit-sharing, stock options or other forms of compensation.
Some state government jobs in Michigan are eligible for overtime and other pay premiums. For instance, state police officers who work with explosives earn $104 more in their biweekly paychecks.[55] In 2012, the state paid $42,044 for this premium.[56] Other pay premiums are available for state employees, who, for example, work out-of-state or perform duties that are considered to be more dangerous.[57]
The most common form of supplemental pay for government employees is overtime. Some employees are eligible for overtime and receive a “time-and-a-half” premium (a 50 percent higher pay rate) for any hours worked above and beyond 40 hours per week or for working on holidays.[58] The state paid $35.3 million providing this benefit in fiscal 2012.[59]
Local government units can offer supplemental pay benefits at their own discretion, subject to collective bargaining when employees are unionized.
Just as in the public sector, overtime and paid leave are common forms of supplemental pay in the private sector. But private sector employers are more likely to provide pay bonuses that are unrelated to an individual’s direct work, like profit-sharing and Christmas bonuses. Nationally, these “nonproduction bonuses” accounted for 51 cents per hour of average compensation in the private sector in 2012 compared to just 12 cents per hour in state and local governments.[60]