Originally Posted by DOL

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Ti...CFR779.413.htm

29 CFR 779.413 - Methods of compensation of retail store employees.

• Section Number: 779.413
• Section Name: Methods of compensation of retail store employees.

(a) Retail or service establishment employees are generally compensated (apart from any extra payments for overtime or other additional payments) by one of the following methods:

(1) Straight salary or hourly rate: Under this method of compensation the employee receives a stipulated sum paid weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly or a fixed amount for each hour of work.

(2) Salary plus commission: Under this method of compensation the employee receives a commission on all sales in addition to a base salary (see paragraph (a)(1) of this section).

(3) Quota bonus: This method of compensation is similar to paragraph (a)(2) of this section except that the commission payment is paid on sales over and above a predetermined sales quota.

(4) Straight commission without advances: Under this method of compensation the employee is paid a flat percentage on each dollar of sales he makes.

(5) Straight commission with ``advances,'' ``guarantees,'' or ``draws.'' This method of compensation is similar to paragraph (a)(4) of this section except that the employee is paid a fixed weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, or monthly ``advance,'' ``guarantee,'' or ``draw.'' At periodic intervals a settlement is made at which time the payments already made are supplemented by any additional amount by which his commission earnings exceed the amounts previously paid.

(b) The above listing in paragraph (a) of this section which reflects the typical methods of compensation is not, of course, exhaustive of the pay practices which may exist in retail or service establishments. Although typically in retail or service establishments commission payments are keyed to sales, the requirement of the exemption is that more than half the employee's compensation represent commissions ``on goods or services,'' which would include all types of commissions customarily based on the goods or services which the establishment sells, and not exclusively those measured by ``sales'' of these goods or services.

Originally Posted by subaruwrx

I work for a labor law firm... Actually, the largest in teh country!

Originally Posted by DetailAddict

so how does it work with the 'hours' since the person is straight commission with advances? Since no base pay, would there be 'overtime'? what about benefits?

Originally Posted by subaruwrx

Oh, I work in IT... I dont know anything about Law...

However, from what I have seen, employees that are on straight commission (My experience has been with recruiting) are paid a salary and their commission is billed back against that. This way, they receive a typical paycheck and their hours can fluctuate, since it is like its salaried. You have a quota that you have to meet and if you dont, its addressed through your annual review and write ups. The thing that sucks about it is that if you REALLY miss your quotas, you have to pay some of your pay back when you leave.

Basically, its like Salary with a contingency plan for the company in case you miss quotas. However, California Labor Law says that everyone has to be "compensated for hours worked", so if you are working an exceptional amount of hours without an salary increase commensurate with your performance, you may have a case, should you decide to take them to court.

Best to talk to an attorney about this. I do work for a Labor Law firm, but our attorneys are SUPER expensive...