jasonrobinett
01-26-2006, 11:40 AM
I am writing this question on behalf of my wife. She quit her job because her boss verbally abused her. When figuring out how much she was owed, my wife realized that for the 14 months or so that she worked for this company, she was never paid overtime when she worked over 40 hours. She gets paid and hourly wage plus commission. She worked as a title examiner. Researching property titles for her company. Her company contracts to clients (Mortgage, Realtors, Closers) and do the title searches for the clients. My wife got paid a set amount per search (ie $20 for a full search, $10 for a current owner) plus her hourly wage. If she worked 44 hours, she got paid 44 hours at the regular rate. My question is if she could go after the overtime that was never paid to her.
Pattymd
01-26-2006, 12:28 PM
Most likely, yes. And the commissions need to be added into her other pay for purposes of determining the rate at which the premium portion of overtime must be paid.
Let's say she worked 44 hours in the workweek at a base of $10/hr, plus completed 20 full searches for a total of $400.
44 hrs * $10 = $440 straight-time
Commissions = $400
"regular rate of pay" (per FLSA regulations) = $19.09
premium portion of overtime = $19.09 * .5 * 4 hrs OT = $38.18
Total Pay $440 + $400 + $38.18 = $878.18
Hope this helps.
jasonrobinett
01-26-2006, 12:35 PM
I got some math to do since the commision varies week to week, causing me to believe that each week her "regular rate of pay" would be different. But thank you for your help, I don't know whether or not being in Virginia would make any difference on this issue.
Pattymd
01-26-2006, 12:44 PM
Yes, that is correct. The regular rate of pay will vary each week depending upon the commission amount. But she doesn't have to have this information to file her claim. The company will have to calculate it if (when) they are determined to be in violation and are ordered to pay the back overtime. I would mention in her claim, though, that she does get bonuses/commissions based on production, so the state DOL knows.
And the state worked has no relevance here, this is a federal regulation.
Good luck to her.
