Salespeople often spend many long hours building relationships, answering customer questions and becoming experts on the products they are selling to earn their commissions. Unfortunately, employers do not always pay salespeople what they are owed.
How are salespeople compensated?
Employers in California often pay their salespeople on commission. This means that most of the employee’s salary will be made up of a certain percentage of the sales they make each year. The employee’s employment contract will often specify a formula to calculate the amount of commission that the employer owes the employee.
Employers may violate the California Labor Code by miscalculating the commission that they owe to the employee or failing to pay them commission altogether. The employer should be held responsible for its failure to pay the correct amount that they owe, even if the mistake was not intentional.
Misclassification of sales employees can also lead to unpaid wages
Salespeople may be classified as exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and other federal and state wage-and-hour laws. As a result, they are generally not entitled to overtime, meal and rest breaks and minimum wage.
However, not all salespeople are exempt. Employers may misclassify nonexempt employees as exempt salespeople to avoid paying them the wages and benefits to which they are legally entitled.
Salespeople are an essential part of any company and deserve to be valued by their employers. If you are a salesperson who has not received the pay or commission you are owed, an employment law attorney specializing in wage and hour disputes may be able to help you file a claim against your employer for back pay and other damages.