Direct employment refers to workers who create the physical products, whereas indirect employment refers to those who facilitate the production process. Operators of machinery and assembly line workers are typical instances of direct labour. People working in quality control or as support workers are two types of indirect employees.
Time card information is used to calculate hourly wages for the vast majority of direct labour workers. As a general rule, direct employees are not excluded from federal and state minimum wage laws and must be paid at least the larger of the two minimums. Indirect workers might be paid at either a salary or hourly rate. Indirect workers, as opposed to direct workers, are not always entitled to overtime pay.
