Can anyone help me? If your employed in a retail store that sells tires and wheels are you entitled to overtime compensation in GA. The pay is calculated hourly with a monthly commision check. THANKS

What exactly do you do there?

Thanks Patty for responding. I was hired in February as a salesperson. My primary responsiblity was selling wheels and tires to customers, I also answered phones, did inventory paperwork and cash-outs and maintained store cleanliness. I was hired at $8.00 per hour plus 7% commision on profit of merchandise. After the 4th week I noticed my commision had changed to 5%. I asked the owner what was going on and he said well I'm actually paying you an extra 1% put it doesn't show on the computer so really I'm giving you 6%. I asked what happened to the 7% he told me when i was hired and he shrugged it off. After the 2nd month he raised me to $9.00 per hour and changed the commission back to 7%. He then promoted me to sales/service manager and gave me a $700 weekly salry and a sheet with additional bonus structure on it. $100 to $600 depending on total sales of the store plus $100 each for store cleanliness and inventory accuracy. The next month I got my monthly check and it was only $200, I asked him whats going on because my comm was $360 and sales volume on bonus sheet would have been plus $200 more. Total of $560. He said "no Thats my fault I explained it wrong to you thats not an additional bonus plan that replaces your commision." I worked for another month and quit. Before I was paid salary I worked an average of 62-65 hours per week it included sundays and holidays. My longest week was 71 hours, all straight time pay.
Sorry the note is so long but I'm at a loss for whether the company owes me that overtime pay or not.
Thanks for your help
Sincerely,
John S.

At the point you became a manager, it's likely you also qualified for the exemption from overtime. Before that, overtime was due. Another question. When you were on base salary as a manager, if you worked only a partial day, was your salary docked (not your vacation or sick balances, but your actual pay)?

Thank you for your information. I was told that in GA. if you were in the Automtive business they did not have to pay you overtime. In response to your question, yes it was. For example, I left at 11:00 am one saturday, which gave me 55 hours for the week. (even though I was on salary they had us on a time clock) and I was docked $100 for not working a full week.

Not all workers in the automotive business are automatically exempt. However, as a manager, it's likely that you were, so we'll go on that assumption. There are limited circumstances under which an exempt employee's weekly salary can be docked, and a partial day's absence is not one of them, unless the absence was occasioned by intemittent FMLA leave.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/29CFR541.118.htm

Improper deductions can render the exemption from overtime provided by the FLSA invalid and can result in the employee being a nonexempt employee and thus eligible for overtime pay. Contact the federal DOL at (866)4-USADOL. Unfortunately, Georgia defaults to federal law on this issue and likely does not have the mandate to enforce this payment.

You said the payment can not be enforced. Does that hold true for the back pay for the overtime when I was as hourly employee?

Not, by Georgia law, because Georgia does not have its own laws concerning overtime.

The federal DOL can enforce the FLSA requirements for overtime, but they only do so at 1.5 times the minimum wage, because that's all the law requires.

If this is a rather substantial amount of money, I suggest you contact an attorney and see about filing a private suit in court, where you could go for the full amount of overtime due.