My wife has been working at a salon for almost 2 years now and received 60% commission on whatever business she does. She gets paid everyother week. Just yesterday her boss told her that she would now be charged a 15% supply usage fee off the top of the business she brings in.

So if she does $1000 in business $150 goes to the salon for supply fee and then her 60% comes out of the $850 that is left.

Is this legal since this is a reduction in her pay? She has never signed anything saying that she would pay a supply fee, she was actually told when she started working there that there was no supply fee.

Thanks

Reducing pay on a go forward basis (absent a contract) is not inherently illegal. Let's start with the obvious stuff.
- Is this worker being treated as an employee? Taxes being withheld? W-2 at yeat end?
- For each and every workweek, is the employee being paid at least minimum wage? Is overtime being paid where applicable?

Reducing pay on a go forward basis (absent a contract) is not inherently illegal. Let's start with the obvious stuff.
- Is this worker being treated as an employee? Taxes being withheld? W-2 at yeat end?
- For each and every workweek, is the employee being paid at least minimum wage? Is overtime being paid where applicable?


Yes she is being treated as an employee with taxes witheld and getting a W-2 at the end of the year. Yes she is making above minimum wage, no overtime is applicable.

There is nothing illegal about decreasing an employee's compensation, so long as, like DAW said, it is for future work and not past (some states have requirements about notification -- mine, generally a labor friendly state, requires notification today about the rate of pay tomorrow, if less than today's).

Your wife has options.

1. Negotiate a different rate for the supplies (helps if she could show the actual cost to the employer for the supplies she has used in the past IF those supplies come to less than 15% of the sales -- if she has access to records that show that her supplies cost more than 15% of the sales, it is best to say nothing).

2. Find another job.

3. Accept what the new status quo will be.

4. Quit without another job. That is not a good choice. It is possible that the unemployment folks would call a 15% cut in pay "good cause" for quitting, but, IMHO, unlikely.

no overtime is applicable.

Is that because she isn't working more than 40 hours in a workweek? Or is she, and they just aren't paying her at the overtime rate?