Offer
Your offer letter contains the base salary, which is a fixed amount of money paid to an employee by an employer in return for work performed. Base salary does not include benefits, bonuses or any other potential compensation from an employer. Base salary is paid, most frequently, in a bi-weekly paycheck to an exempt or professional employee.
Salary Adjustment
An annual percentage or flat dollar amount salary increase based on increase of duties or rectification of previous misjudgment of duties in relation to compensation.
Merit Increase
Higher wage rate paid to an employee on the basis of an agreed upon criteria such as efficiency and performance. Also called merit bonus.