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Everyone agrees that wages are a form of an employee's compensation. This is not the only form of compensation. Other types of financial compensation could be tips, commissions, or even bonuses, retirement plans or 401Ks, and stocks in the company. Employees can receive other typical kinds of compensation like health insurance, paid vacations, or sick time. I work for the State of Kentucky in a Community Based Services Office processing SNAP (food stamp) applications. Often we meet clients who receive nontraditional forms of compensation. We have grandmas who take care of their grandkids while their children are at work in exchange for living with their kids and grandkids without rent or utilities. We have some adults who care for elderly and disabled relatives in exchange for living on the family farm. We have other adults who work on local farms and receive pay in the form of groceries and free utilities. One conflicting view of compensation I hear regularly comes from restaurant employees. Restaurants may pay servers $2.13/hour (significantly below minimum wage) because it is assumed that the servers will earn tips. Servers often tolerate this (they did agree to their jobs). What they sometimes do not like is being paid $2.13/hr during hours where they do not make tips, usually coming in early to open or staying late to close. Another compensation that employees and employers disagree about is parental leave. In the US, companies are required to hold an open position for a new mom for 6 weeks of maternity leave. As a state employee, I can take up to 12 weeks of maternity leave. I can use vacation time, sick time, and short term disability to keep getting a paycheck for up to 12 weeks. I can even come back to my same job. I used to work at a hotel. The franchise allowed 6 weeks of unpaid maternity leave and would hold A JOB for you, but not necessarily your job. If the Housekeeping Manager took maternity leave, she could be informed that she was going to work at the front desk or in the kitchen (demotions) when she returned. Neither company specifically has paternity leave, though state employees earn more vacation and sick time than the hotel employees. Fathers at the state are more likely to take off time following the birth of a child to bond with the child and to help mom recover. Companies often see parental leave as negative thing, taking away from the business's success. Some employees may see taking leave as hurting them (leaving them with fewer employees and more work). Many in society would benefit from encouraging healthy family relationships and physical health in the community, because poor physical, emotional, and relational health causes problems in the future. Compensation needs to be agreed up between the employer and employee. Compensation should benefit both the employee and the business. Compensation also needs to be legal. As Christians, we should stand for justice, for our employees and for others.