:cool: I reside in California and I work as a retail manager for a small company, (fewer than 50 employees), my understanding of the overtime exemption laws puts me in the non-exempt category. For the first two years and five months I worked for the company I was compensated with a weekly salary of $500 plus 10% of my sales. About 2/3 of my income was in commissions. I signed a contract that stipulated I would work a minimum of 45 hours per week, but I usually worked 55 hours, sometimes more. Last December I agreed to manage a new location for a fixed salary of $1250 per week for the first year, to be re-negotiated at the end of the year. I think the business owner will this week, or very soon, try to change my compensation structure (lowering it greatly!). Before I accepted the position I requested a written contract, was promised one, but after no fewer than six attempts, both written and verbal, I was never provided one.

My questions are:
Am I entitled to overtime pay for hours worked in the past and can I file a claim to this pay without endangering my position?

Can the business owner change my compensation package, and what should I do if this happens?

1) You can file a wage claim with the state. An employer is not permitted to retaliate against a person who does so. You can read about filing a wage claim at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/howtofilewageclaim.html

2) Your employer can change your rate of pay as long as you are notified of the change and there isn't any contract between you and your employer which would prohibit the change.

Thank you for the advise and the link. About the pay change though, my employer and I had an agreement that I would receice a straight salary until December 1 '05. They now want to change that, is that permissable?

Only if that was placed in writing and a disclaimer does not exist.