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French to English translations [PRO] Bus/Financial - Human Resources
French term or phrase:majoration
I am translating a scheduling/time clock software program into US English, and am struggling to come up with a blanket term for "majoration", particularly in the following contexts: "Nombre d'heures avec majoration", "majoration jours fériés", "majoration n'est pas valide", "majoration appliquée", etc.
I understand what majoration means, but am unsure if there is a simple general term that is more concise than what I'm coming up with: "number of hours paid at a higher/premium rate", "holiday pay rate", "invalid pay rate increase", "higher pay rate applied"...
I would like to find a single term that works for multiple contexts, if possible.
Explanation: I was waiting for Peter to post his answer from the Discussion...24 hours have gone by...
I feel that "pay rate" needs to be added, which means that it's not a downright copy, and I've got a lovely reference from no less than Oracle for you to enjoy, see below -- a more or less exact fit for "scheduling/time clock software program" (Oracle calls it "Payroll administration, US English too, ticking all the boxes):
After that, we're dealing with a number of separate questions really, and hear are my separate answers to them:
Nombre d'heures avec majoration - No. hours at premium pay rate
majoration jours fériés - Public holiday premium pay rate
majoration n'est pas valide - premium pay rate is not valid
majoration appliquée - premium pay rate applied
In most cases above the character number is the same or similar, if that is an extra requirement.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2021-04-14 23:57:00 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Correction: here are my answers (ouch, sorry!)
As Tony says, any attempt at a one-for-one translation for "majoration" in all contexts is on to a loser, and will only lead to nightmares about the taxman and Urssaf for us French residents!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 5 days (2021-04-19 12:51:28 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
Thank you, Conor. I have decided to go with a variation on premium/premium pay rate for most of the specific contexts cited above- not least of all thanks to the sources you and Peter cited here, which are right on point. 4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer
'Premium hours' does make sense to me, and when I did a search for "premium hours" together with other relevant words ("worked" and "employee") just now, I found plenty of US examples, this being one of many (Massachussetts): https://policies.mit.edu/employment-policy-manual/50-pay-pol...
And then there's this previous KudoZ question where "premium hours" was the source term: www.proz.com/kudoz/4560352
I can't say I've come across "enhancement" in the context of wages in the UK myself, but different companies do have their different ways of saying things. In any case, it's what folks in the US say that really matters here!
As @Peter said, the terms I am looking to translate are all related to scheduling/payroll management, so these are all positive circumstances, certainly nothing where 'surcharge' would fit. I also need to keep the translations short, as these are often labels on a dashboard, headings for rows and columns on a table, etc. I personally have never heard "enhancement" used in the context of salary/pay; is that common in UK English?
Thanks for your input, everyone. @Peter- it's good to know that 'premium' was used on your pay slips. Do you think "Premium Hours" would make sense as a label? Or would you say it's better to stick with "Hours Paid at Premium Rate"? @Conor, I don't *have* to use the same word each time, but I'm trying to use as few terms as possible to cover all the different circumstances. I agree that we do think about things differently in English in the US; I'm just trying to find some semblance of consistency if possible.
Given that the stated context is Human Resources and "scheduling/time clock software program", why do you think fines for parking offences, or anything undesirable, are likely to be relevant here? The asker has said she wants something that will work in "multiple" instances of the (wage-related) kinds she has mentioned, not all possible contexts in which the FR word can arise.
In all my years as a translator, I have never yet found one single term that can be used in all cases, and as so often with FR, it is necessary to apply the "horses for courses" principle. For example, the popular suggestion 'premium' doesn't really fit if you are talking about a fine for a parking offence, say, where 'surcharge' might be more applicable. Sometimes, you may even find that using an expression with a verb in EN will lead to a more elegant solution. There are times when 'increase' will simply do the trick. You may do well to think more laterally, and try to get away from using 'pay' where possible. It may be that 'rate' can be used in some instances without creating ambiguity. In some cases, you might be able to use 'enhanced' or 'enhancement' — perhaps in your example with 'invalid'; also consider using 'not valid'.
I remember only three pay rates in Ireland, but when you get into settings with several shifts a day (mostly 3 x 8 hours in factories), it'll get more complicated.
At one place where I used to work, many moons ago in the UK, my employer used to use the word "premium" on payslips, e.g. "Night Premium" meant the bonus money paid on top of regular wages for hours worked at night. And they had two night premiums, one (NT1) was for hours worked between 10pm-midnight and there was a slightly bigger one (NT2) for hours worked between midnight and some ungodly hour in the morning. I used to get both because I worked all-night shifts in a petrol station.
I would have a look and see if "premium" is used in the US with the same meaning, since you're translating into US English. It certainly seems widespread in Canada.
Hi Phil, thanks for the comment. I did read the previous entries before asking my question, but none of them seemed to respond to my search for a single term. For example, "hours with increase" sounds pretty odd to me, as does "holiday increase." I'm seeking a more HR-specific term, if it exists.
Explanation: At least in US English this would seem to refer to "overtime" since additional hours (heures supplémentaires) are compensated at a higher rate (one majoration) than normal hours as in: number of overtime hours holiday overtime overtime is not applicable invalid overtime
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 22 mins (2021-04-13 22:33:18 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
...(OR "majoration") ...I meant to say.
Timothy Rake United States Local time: 19:57 Meets criteria Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 18
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Timothy- I don't think I can use overtime here because French labor law is so specific about different kinds of pay, different kinds of hours, etc. Overtime is a specific thing, which is different from extra hours, holiday hours, etc.
1 hr confidence:
majoration / appliquée
bonus / mark-up applied
Explanation: Nombre d'heures avec majoration - number of hours with or including bonus.
Bonus applied may not work as well as the mark-up or markup applied.
Right answers are indeed at a premium, but the main UK context I've seen that term in is on grant of a lease of premises.
Note that, in Swiss etc. German, extra pay for Mehrstunden > extra hours worked over contract is different BrE from AmE / CanE than Überstunden > overtime pay.
PS translators and interpreters on a bonus scheme at my Central London translation office used to be told - by one paradoxically workshy Company Director - that they or we were 'greedy' if we worked too hard.
Example sentence(s):
Bonus pay is money you give employees beyond their existing base wages. Bonus pay is a type of supplemental wage. Bonus wages can be given as a reward or gift.
The markup is generally applied as a percentage on top of the pay rate, which is provided to the staffing agency for its services.
Adrian MM. Austria Meets criteria Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 24
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thanks Adrian. I do think that at least in the US a bonus is usually used to describe a lump sum, rather than an increase to your hourly pay, though.
Explanation: possibly also some variations on "additional" ?
"Nombre d'heures avec majoration" = number of hours at increased rates,
"majoration jours fériés" = additional holiday pay / increased rates for holidays
"majoration n'est pas valide" = increased rates not applicable / not valid
"majoration appliquée" = increased rates applied
Daryo United Kingdom Local time: 03:57 Does not meet criteria Native speaker of: Serbian, French PRO pts in category: 16
15 hrs confidence:
differential pay rate
Explanation: Differential pay rate- This would be any rate of pay based on a percentage of an employee’s stated rate of pay. For instance, an employee may receive a 10% shift differential for working the second shift and a 20% shift differential for working the third shift. If an employee receives double-time pay for working on a weekend or a holiday, he or she is actually receiving a 100% differential. Overtime pay at one-and-a-half times the employee’s rate of pay could be viewed as a 50% differential.
The principle of paying shift differentials has traditionally been used to attract workers to the often hard-to-fill “off shifts.” While evening and night shifts tend to get most of the attention in the shift differential conversation, it’s important to not overlook weekend differentials as well.
Claire Nolan Local time: 22:57 Meets criteria Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 44
Notes to answerer
Asker: Thank you Claire. This seems to be along the right lines, but I would have to look into it a bit more to figure out how to use it appropriately in the contexts I mentioned.
Explanation: It would fit all 4 contexts, thus: Higher rate - no. of hours (or invert the 2 clauses) Higher rate - holidays (or invert the 2 clauses) Invalid higher rate Higher rate applied
In my day (aye up!), it was simply an hourly multiplier for overtime: 1.5x for weekdays, 2x for Sundays and bank holidays etc.
Frank Foley Local time: 04:57 Meets criteria Native speaker of: English
Explanation: I was waiting for Peter to post his answer from the Discussion...24 hours have gone by...
I feel that "pay rate" needs to be added, which means that it's not a downright copy, and I've got a lovely reference from no less than Oracle for you to enjoy, see below -- a more or less exact fit for "scheduling/time clock software program" (Oracle calls it "Payroll administration, US English too, ticking all the boxes):
After that, we're dealing with a number of separate questions really, and hear are my separate answers to them:
Nombre d'heures avec majoration - No. hours at premium pay rate
majoration jours fériés - Public holiday premium pay rate
majoration n'est pas valide - premium pay rate is not valid
majoration appliquée - premium pay rate applied
In most cases above the character number is the same or similar, if that is an extra requirement.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 1 day 1 hr (2021-04-14 23:57:00 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
Correction: here are my answers (ouch, sorry!)
As Tony says, any attempt at a one-for-one translation for "majoration" in all contexts is on to a loser, and will only lead to nightmares about the taxman and Urssaf for us French residents!
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 5 days (2021-04-19 12:51:28 GMT) Post-grading --------------------------------------------------
Melanie, thanks! A challenging question.
Conor McAuley France Local time: 04:57 Meets criteria Specializes in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 60
Grading comment
Thank you, Conor. I have decided to go with a variation on premium/premium pay rate for most of the specific contexts cited above- not least of all thanks to the sources you and Peter cited here, which are right on point.
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