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comission based salary not equaling min wage

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wendyk

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MI

I am a permanent employee for a cleaning company and am paid 18% of the total amount charged to the customer. I am required to be available M-F 8a-5p. We also are required to arrive at the office at 8am where we sit for a half hour or more waiting for the office staff to put together our binders with the information for the houses we are to clean for the day. I am not paid for the time we are at the office, driving from house to house, putting gas in the company car so we can drive from house to house, or washing the car when it is dirty. I am only paid 18% of what the customer is charged.

Most days, I do not make minimum wage. However, my employer will take the amount of my commision and figure out how many hours is equal to minimum wage and say that is the amount of hours I worked for the week and post that on my paycheck.

My questions are:
1. If I am required to arrive at the office at a certain time and have to wait to receive my assignments, am I entiteled to compensation for that amount of time?

2. Am I entiteld to compensation for traveling to and from the homes I am cleaning?

3. A customer is charged $70 to have their house cleaned and I receive 18% which is $12.60. If it takes me two hours to clean their home, am I entitled to minimum wage at this point since I only made $6.30 per hour?

4. Should I be paid from the time I arrive to the office in the morning to the time I return in the afternoon from cleaning my assigned homes for the day?

5. Is an employer exempt from paying minimum wage and can he pay whatever he wishes if there are less than 50 people employed?

6. If a customer complains that his house was not cleaned to their standards, my boss will send us back to do the house again free of charge. He does not pay us for this. Is this legal? Am I entitled to compensation for this?
 
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pattytx

Senior Member
1. Yes.

2. Between jobs, yes. From home to your first job of the day (or the office) and vice versa, no.

3. It must average out on a workweek (not daily or by the job) basis to at least minimum wage.

4. Yes, except for any unpaid lunch breaks.

You can file a claim for violation of minimum wage and unpaid wages (for the travel time between jobs or for sitting at the office waiting for the next customer) with the state Dept. of Labor.
 

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