Piece-rate Pay

What if, instead of paying a fixed hourly rate, you pay a worker on a piece-rate basis? Is this permissible under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)? According to an opinion letter from the DOL, a company that paid employees for unloading services at warehouses on the basis of the number and types of trucks they unloaded was allowed to figure the regular rate of pay under FLSA by dividing earnings by the number of hours worked during the workweek. Key to this position: the hours included both productive and nonproductive time (wait time), the employer supplemented pay if the per-hour rate fell below minimum wage, and the employer paid overtime to employees working more than 40 hours in a workweek.  #IdeaoftheDay