Commission and Minimum Wage South Dakota

[kzook]

I work in retail sales. We are paid commission on a few items in the store, not all items just a few. These commissions they call sales incentives (SI's) they range from $1.00 to maybe $15.00. These SI's make up a very small part of our wages. My question is can my employer pay me less than minimum wage as a base rate as we get these SI's? I have noticed if I don't make enough in SI's they will cover the difference until my average hourly is up to the min wage. so they hold these SI's as being accountable for the difference between my base pay and current minimum wage.

[DAW]

Complicated. On a workweek basis, you must be paid minimum wage. Period. No exceptions. That is very black letter federal law. The feds do not care even a little bit about these SIs as long as you are paid at least MW (plus OT if applicable) each workweek. If this is not happening, file a wage claim. Once MW/OT requirements are meet however, the feds have turned the channel as far as you are concerned.

Now maybe your state cares. Or not. SD is not my state, so I cannot help you with that. I can say that it is extremely unlikely SD law actually mention SIs. It might have contract law provisions or something else. I can also say that most states would not care about SIs.