i'm currently a hairstylist at a salon. i disagree with lots of the salon policies but recently i have noticed that the owners ask all stylists to stay late for "mandatory," events. for example, tonight 20 women were coming into the salon, paying $30 per person for mini salon/spa services but stylist were to recieve no payment/commission/hourly rate at all but were technically working. i know business' can ask for mandatory meetings legally but what if the employee is actually working? not just meeting etc. hope this makes sense, very frusterated and need help. :(

That's working.
http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_785/29CFR785.13.htm

How are you paid? Hourly, commission-only, or a combination?

hourly plus commission. another issue i now have is that on my first day of work, i was signing my usual tax forms etc. i asked for a copy of all my paperwork. about a month later i finally get my paperwork and amongst the pages is an "agreement," that as i read on appears to be some kind of contract made up so that i'm basically having to stay employed with this salon for 2 years unless i want to pay the salon $75/hour spent in training. in the reading it states the salon will give me approx. 512 hours of billed time! that's $38,400!!! that's more than the cost of beauty school itself times 5! this can't be serious? if it's an agreement and AZ is a right to work state how can this hold up in court? i feel like i was totally tricked in this matter in that no one ever went over this in detail with me and it was just shoved in with my tax/general work paperwork ON my first day of work. i'm a bit frusterated considering that i'm already looking at other salons for employment because i feel i'm being completely taken advantage of at this place of work. someone please help! this is a true nightmare.

OK, let's address each of these separately. If your hourly rate plus your commission, on workweek basis, averages at least minimum wage per hour worked, the employer is not in violation. In Arizona, the minimum wage is now $6.75 per hour.

So, let's say your hourly rate is $7 per hour. You worked 20 hours at your hourly rate, 4 hours with "no pay" as you referenced in your post, and made $100 in commissions.

(20 + $7) + $100 = $240
$240/24 = $10 regular rate of pay
Over the minimum wage, no violation.


Relative to the "agreement", you need to take it to a local attorney versed in employment/contract law for advise as to whether it is an enforceable contractual obligation. The devil is in the details (and state contract law) and only an attorney who has read the document in its entirety can give you a reliable opinion.

Having said that, though, if you signed it, you could be held to it (depending on the advice of an attorney as mentioned above). The fact that you say it was "shoved in among other papers" is, generally speaking, irrelevant. If you didn't know what you were signing, you shouldn't have signed it.