Basic Pay
The first thing you will notice in the Earnings section is the Basic Pay. Sometimes, if you have taken or been assigned any form of leave (such as Vacation Leave), this will also be included in the Earnings section. Although you may expect this to be straightforward, this is not exactly as you would expect.
Full-Time Employees
If you are being paid a fixed pay per month, the number of basic hours for a typical full-timer are that of 173.33 hours. This is the total hours in the year (2080 hours) averaged over 12 months. This is a good thing!
Let's take an example of February. February is four weeks long, which amounts to 160 hours of worked hours on a standard schedule of 40 hours per week. Should the employer pay you for only 160 hours, you would not earn the agreed amount in the contract for fixed wage, and this means you would have a tighter budget to spend on monthly bills and expenses.
Consequently, in longer months, even if you work more than 173.33 hours (e.g. 184 hours in March), you will still be paid the same fixed monthly amount. This is to ensure a fair and equal pay month by month. More information can be found here: Calculating your monthly hours
In the below screenshot, the employee is earning a total of €1000 per month (their basic salary), split between Basic Pay and Vacation Leave, totalling to 173.33 hours.
Part-Time Employees
For part-time employees working fixed hours, the same methodology applies as the full-time employees. On the other hand, if you are being paid per hour of work, then the hours in the payslip should match the amount you have worked. Most likely, this will be different in each payslip.