PHR Total Rewards Practice Questions
Total Rewards makes up 7 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest PHR practice test. Here are 10 of the 28 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the HRCI PHR Exam Content Outline (2024). Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real 115-question exam. 70% is Tigertest's readiness line; HRCI reports a scaled score. Not affiliated with HRCI.
1. Under the FLSA, a nonexempt employee must be paid overtime at one and a half times the regular rate for hours over:
- A.45 in a workweek
- B.40 in a workweek
- C.8 in a workday
- D.80 in two weeks
Answer: B. Federal overtime is based on hours over 40 in a fixed workweek. Daily overtime is a state rule in a few states, not the FLSA.
2. A nonexempt employee earns $18 an hour, works 45 hours and earns a $90 production bonus that week. What is her regular rate for overtime?
- A.$19
- B.$22
- C.$18
- D.$20
Answer: D. Nondiscretionary bonuses go into the regular rate: (45 x $18 + $90) / 45 = $900 / 45 = $20. Overtime is then due at an extra half of $20 for the 5 extra hours.
3. To be exempt from overtime under the FLSA's white-collar rules, an employee must generally meet:
- A.Salary basis, salary level and duties
- B.A signed waiver of overtime
- C.A manager job title and a college degree
- D.A minimum tenure of one year
Answer: A. Exemption needs payment on a salary basis, at least the federal salary level, and primary duties meeting the executive, administrative, professional or other test. Titles and waivers do not decide it.
4. Under the Portal-to-Portal Act, which time is generally not paid work time?
- A.Donning required protective gear
- B.Training the employer requires
- C.The normal commute to work
- D.Required on-site security screening
Answer: C. The Portal-to-Portal Act excludes ordinary travel between home and work. Activities integral to the job, such as required gear, can be compensable.
5. Under the Equal Pay Act, men and women in the same workplace must get equal pay for jobs requiring equal:
- A.Hours, title and location
- B.Output, sales and seniority in the role
- C.Skill, effort and responsibility
- D.Education, tenure and age
Answer: C. The Equal Pay Act of 1963 compares jobs by skill, effort and responsibility under similar working conditions. Seniority, merit and production systems are defenses.
6. Under the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, the time to file a pay discrimination charge restarts:
- A.With each affected paycheck
- B.At the end of each calendar year
- C.When the employee resigns
- D.Only at the original pay decision
Answer: A. The 2009 Act treats each paycheck affected by a discriminatory decision as a new violation, so the filing period restarts each time.
7. An employee earns $66,000 and the salary range midpoint is $60,000. What is the compa-ratio?
- A.1.20
- B.0.91
- C.1.06
- D.1.10
Answer: D. Compa-ratio is pay divided by the range midpoint: $66,000 / $60,000 = 1.10. Dividing the other way gives 0.91.
8. A salary range runs from $50,000 to $70,000. An employee earns $55,000. What is his range penetration?
- A.10%
- B.25%
- C.79%
- D.50%
Answer: B. Range penetration is (pay - minimum) / (maximum - minimum): ($55,000 - $50,000) / $20,000 = 25%. Pay divided by the maximum gives 79%.
9. An employee is paid above the maximum of his grade after a job change. His rate is frozen until the range catches up. This is:
- A.Broadbanding
- B.A red-circle rate
- C.A green-circle rate
- D.Pay compression
Answer: B. Red-circle rates sit above the range maximum. Green-circle rates sit below the minimum and are usually raised to it.
10. New hires are being paid nearly as much as long-serving staff in the same job. This problem is called:
- A.Broadbanding
- B.Wage garnishment
- C.Pay equity
- D.Pay compression
Answer: D. Pay compression happens when market rates for new hires rise faster than raises for current staff, shrinking the gap between them.
Practice all 28 total rewards questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free PHR training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
Start practicingFree to start. No account needed.