Fired for not working for free

[lawrenced]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

My company (IMO) does lots of sketchy things. Employees are set up as 100% commissioned, paid monthly. Most of us work in retail environments and handle telecommunication accounts. We have no cash registers and have a system in which if we need to get paperwork, money, or equipment to our main office, we deposit it into a safe which gets picked up twice a week. Certain things are needed back to the office or we could get what's called "locked out."

Example:
A customer comes in and buys new equipment with $200 in cash.
We are required to get that cash to our back office within 7 days.
If the back office does not get the cash within 7 days, we are "locked out."
This means that when we log in to work our scheduled shifts, we cannot process sales, and therefore make no money.

Here is the kicker, we must still come in and work our shifts while locked out. If we leave or don't come in, we could be terminated.

On top of 100 other things this company does that seem illegal, is this issue legal?

Thanks,
Lawrence D

 

[xylene]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

My company (IMO) does lots of sketchy things. Employees are set up as 100% commissioned, paid monthly. Most of us work in retail environments and handle telecommunication accounts. We have no cash registers and have a system in which if we need to get paperwork, money, or equipment to our main office, we deposit it into a safe which gets picked up twice a week. Certain things are needed back to the office or we could get what's called "locked out."

Example:
A customer comes in and buys new equipment with $200 in cash.
We are required to get that cash to our back office within 7 days.
If the back office does not get the cash within 7 days, we are "locked out."
This means that when we log in to work our scheduled shifts, we cannot process sales, and therefore make no money.

Here is the kicker, we must still come in and work our shifts while locked out. If we leave or don't come in, we could be terminated.

On top of 100 other things this company does that seem illegal, is this issue legal?

Thanks,
Lawrence D

It is illegal to be paid less than minimum wage.

You have a lot of "coulds" in your question and I really don't understand this "locked out" thing or how your work process goes down.

 

[Antigone*]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

My company (IMO) does lots of sketchy things. Employees are set up as 100% commissioned, paid monthly. Most of us work in retail environments and handle telecommunication accounts. We have no cash registers and have a system in which if we need to get paperwork, money, or equipment to our main office, we deposit it into a safe which gets picked up twice a week. Certain things are needed back to the office or we could get what's called "locked out."

Example:
A customer comes in and buys new equipment with $200 in cash.
We are required to get that cash to our back office within 7 days.
If the back office does not get the cash within 7 days, we are "locked out."
This means that when we log in to work our scheduled shifts, we cannot process sales, and therefore make no money.

Here is the kicker, we must still come in and work our shifts while locked out. If we leave or don't come in, we could be terminated.

On top of 100 other things this company does that seem illegal, is this issue legal?

Thanks,
Lawrence D

So why is it taking you more than 7 days to get the cash to the back office?

 

[lawrenced]

It is illegal to be paid less than minimum wage.

You have a lot of "coulds" in your question and I really don't understand this "locked out" thing or how your work process goes down.

Employees can be paid 100% commission. We are "outside" sales consultants that work primarily inside at retail locations. The only way we get paid is to sell things (services, activate new accounts, accessories, etc). When I go to work, I log in to the computer (consider it punching in) and I can access the sales system.

If I were to not drop a required document or cash that I received, we are prevented from logging in to our sales system. Therefore, we cannot make money and we can't leave.

 

[lawrenced]

So why is it taking you more than 7 days to get the cash to the back office?

I don't have an issue with the system. I perform my duties very well actually. I never get locked out. But I simply am curious if the process of forcing us to work for free is legal or not.

 

[Antigone*]

I don't have an issue with the system. I perform my duties very well actually. I never get locked out. But I simply am curious if the process of forcing us to work for free is legal or not.

No you are not working for free. You have to understand that if the commission you earn does not equal to minimum wage, they must pay you the difference.

A commission only employee will not work for the corporation very long if they have to pay him/her minimum wage.