I work in the new car sales dept of a local auto dealership. From the day I started I have been payed a salary of $500/wk. At the end of the month the $500/wk is then deducted from my commission total from the cars I've sold throughout the month. If I make less than $2000 in commission for the month, then I do not receive a commission check, but I do not have to pay back any of the $500/wk that was paid to me.

Over the last few months my sales have been down. My boss came to me & told me they were restructuring the pay scale (not his exact words), and I was now being moved to a straight commission pay where I would be paid $312/wk if I did not make a commission exceeding that amount, and the $312 would then need to be paid back from my commission the following week, unless again I did not earn enough commission to cover it. The "draws" would continue to add up until the end of the month when the slate would then be wiped clean.

I was lead to believe that allemployess being paid the same way I was were having this change made. It weas only until later that I found out that I was the only one changing.

I do not feel that I am being descriminated against for race, religion, gender, etc., but I do feel that is being done due to to my sales being down over the last 2 months. Can they do this & do I have any ground to stand on for any type of recourse?

When I started this job I was told that I was going to be guaranteed at least $2000/mo, even if my sales were down lower than usual. I feel as though they are doing this to force me to voluntarily resign rather than terminate me & pay me unemployment. I like the job & I don't want to lose it, but even though I have having a rough few months I don't want to be paid less than I was originally told I was going to be paid. working 45-60 hours a week is not worth $312/wk. That is just a hair over minimum wage for a 40 hour week, and less than minimum wage for longer work weeks.

You have two different issues here. There are (at least) two very different types of law. Labor law is something that the government imposes on employers and employees. There is nothing that the parties (employees and employers) can do to make labor law go away. There is also something called contract law. That is when the parties get together and create a (hopefully) legally enforceable agreement. It is not possible for contract law to override labor law, but it is possible for contract law to create obligations that would not otherwise exists.

The answer to any contract law question is always to take all available documents to a local attorney for review. It is possible to have a contract that is not written, but proving the terms of such a verbal contract is challenging at best. You mentioned that you were "guaranteed at least $2000/mo". That is a contract law argument that you will have to talk to a local attorney about. This can be very complicated. While all contracts are agreements, not all agreements are contracts. This tends to be very state law specific and very specific to the exact wording of the documents claimed to be a contract.

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I can address the labor law aspects only. You are an "inside sales" person working for an Auto Dealership. (http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs19.pdf) Under federal law (FLSA) you must be paid at least minimum wage for all hours worked in the work week. This is black letter federal law and there is nothing the employer can do to make this requirement go away. I have referenced the related factsheet. I am going to suggest that you need to read this sheet.

Past this labor law requirement, there is in theory a good deal of flexibility. Things such as commissions or draws or whatever terms the employer wants to use are possible as long as the minimum wage rules are not violated.

Tank you.

Also, another quick question. After posting the original situation, I am now being told that even though I was not told about the change in pay until Friday morning, Dec 26th, the change in pay actually went into effect the previous Monday. So, basically, I worked Mon thru Fri (Thursday Dec 25th off for the holiday) expecting a check for my $500 salary, then I came to find out that next week I will be given a check for $312 for these hours I have already worked.

Most states require that notice must be given to change the conditions of employment. However your state is not my state and I have no idea what kind of notice requirements (if any) MI has.

Past that, you have to be paid at least minimum wage for each and every workweek. There is nothing the employer can do to alter this requirement.