Underpaid Wages and Overtime

Many employees that receive commissions and work overtime are unaware that are not being properly compensated under the law. Under the law any commissions you receive during a pay period need to be factored into your overtime rate.

For example: If your hourly rate is $10 an hour and you worked 40 hours during a pay period, you would receive $400 in gross pay for the pay period. However, if you received an additional $100 in commissions, your overtime rate must legally be calculated based a multiple of both the base pay plus the commission for each pay period. So in this instance, overtime would be calculated as follows; $500 / 40 hrs = $12.50 / hr. As a result the base hourly rate used to determine time and a half, double time, etc… for your overtime hours would increase from $10 / hr to $12.50 / hr.

The resulting overtime rate would then change from $15 / hr (on time and half) to $18.25 / hr. The statute of limitations on these unpaid overtime claims is 2 years and in some cases 3 years. So once you file your case you can go back and collect any unpaid overtime for the last 2-3 years from the date you file your claim.