You better check with your state labor board first. Some states don't allow peice work. I think $14 a hour is too low for a 15 year exeranced guy unless he is slow and unproductive.

When I was younger working as a waiter while in high school got paid $2.01 a hour plus tips. If we were slow I could literally make $2.01 a hour. When I moved to IN I was already out of food service I was shocked to learn that if you don't make minimum wage with tips the employer had to make up the difference. Of course those employees are usually not kept around if you can't average over minimum wage.

 

Essentially, Production work. In a forge in Chattanooga, I worked some of this type of work. It pushed me to work harder, but not too much harder, because the others would get mad if you went too far over, afraid that the company would raise the rates and make it harder to meet production.

I think it's a good motivator, but also more headache in the accounting department.
I thought about paying minimum wage and then a rate per hour per piece. The more they make good quality products, the more money they can make.
A good system would be beneficial to both Employer and Employee.

 

personally I don't think you want to go there. First of all, as the other poster said, piecework is a very specific type of work and legally you could probably only pay that to contract labor and not a full time employee. Also piecework involves making the exact same thing. Screen printing every job is different. Some will take longer or shorter because of everything from art to colors to garment type. Also the notion of "fair to both of us" is rather odd. You pay your employee based on the prevailing wage for the job type and experience, so there is a balance between the "going rate" and wanting to keep a good employee from going elsewhere. $14 an hour for that kind of experience seems low but I don't know what the local cost of living is or if they are getting other benefits (paid vacation, sick days, health insurance). Secondly as an employee while you want the business to do well what is "fair" to the boss is a ridiculous notion. You own the business and have all the benefits that go along with it (including the responsibilities of course). What are you saying to your person? "I can't pay you more because it wouldn't be "fair" to me"?? Ugh. If someone is doing such a bad job or messing up so many shirts you feel they need to be penalized or pay for them- just fire them, or re-train if that's the issue. Saying you'll only pay for the good ones will create a very bad atmosphere.