Fred Austin is employed by White Company where he assembles a component part for one of the company’s products. Fred is paid $12 per hour for regular time, and he is paid time and a half (i.e., $18 per hour) for all work in excess of 40 hours per week.

Required:
1. Assume that during a given week Fred is idle for two hours due to machine breakdowns and that he is idle for four more hours due to material shortages. No overtime is recorded for the week. Allocate Fred’s wages for the week between direct labor cost and manufacturing overhead cost.
2. Assume that during a following week Fred works a total of 50 hours. He has no idle time for the week. Allocate Fred’s wages for the week between direct labor cost and manufacturing overhead cost.
3. Fred’s company provides an attractive package of fringe benefits for its employees. This package includes a retirement program and a health insurance program. Explain two ways that the company could handle the costs of its direct laborers’ fringe benefits in its cost records.