Commission Pay vs Minimum Wage Pay in Michigan

[ictponder]

Where I work there are two sides to the store. My side and the Verizon side. The Verizon employees work on a wage ($4 per hour) + commissions.

Each month we have a store wide meeting. Each employee earns their commission wage while at the meeting. Is the store required to pay them state minimum wage while at the meetings since the store is closed and they are unable to earn commissions?

Only reason I ask is because most of the employees (not including myself - I live like 5 minutes away) live about an hour away and it actually costs them about $6 to attend the monthly meetings. One of my friends here that work on that side brought it up to me so I figured I would ask.

[j2k4]

Don't know, Isaac.

Is attendance at these meetings mandatory?

[ictponder]

Yes attendance is mandatory - they are an hour long. I forgot to mention that it would only apply to those people who have a scheduled day off on the day of the meeting as they cannot stay and make any more money after the meeting.

[j2k4]

Yes attendance is mandatory - they are an hour long. I forgot to mention that it would only apply to those people who have a scheduled day off on the day of the meeting as they cannot stay and make any more money after the meeting.

Logic would dictate minimum wage should apply, the $4/hr figure normally being coupled with the chance at commissions, so no opportunity for commissions during these meetings should - one would think - invalidate the $4/hr stipulation.

That said, I'm going to guess there are no clearly applicable guidelines.

[AgentOblivious]

You guys don't have minimum work hours? Here if you get called in its for a minimum of 3 hours work. (even if they only want you for an hour, they have to pay for 3 hours).

[ictponder]

You guys don't have minimum work hours? Here if you get called in its for a minimum of 3 hours work. (even if they only want you for an hour, they have to pay for 3 hours).

No, unless you are scheduled to work on the day of the meeting you have to go home afterwards, getting paid only for the hour. All store overtime was recently eliminated so they schedule accordingly. It works out good for me because I work every other Saturday, which allows me to leave at 11am the following Friday.

[Dbeltran24]

I know maryland and virginia also have a 3 hour minimum. I thought that was a nationwide policy.

[onebadmollafolla]

Where I work there are two sides to the store. My side and the Verizon side. The Verizon employees work on a wage ($4 per hour) + commissions.

Each month we have a store wide meeting. Each employee earns their commission wage while at the meeting. Is the store required to pay them state minimum wage while at the meetings since the store is closed and they are unable to earn commissions?

Only reason I ask is because most of the employees (not including myself - I live like 5 minutes away) live about an hour away and it actually costs them about $6 to attend the monthly meetings. One of my friends here that work on that side brought it up to me so I figured I would ask.

You should be able to get rather simple legal advice for something like that for free I'd imagine. $4 seems awfully low for base pay. I work for a cellphone company as well and our base pay is much higher than $4/hr plus commission.

[Alan92RTTT]

As far as I know, Minimum wage only effect workers that are 100% hourly. Workers that are wage+(something) are not effected by the minimum. For example Waiters and waitresses have a base hourly wage that is less than the "minimum wage". They work for wage+tips if they are working setup/cleanup or any other duty where they can not earn tip they just get their hourly wage even though it is less than the "minimum". The same goes for commissioned workers. Some commissioned workers dont even get a hourly rate they still have to attend meetings.

I believe that the theory is that the wage+commission/required hours worked should be greater than the min wage.

[vroom4]

My girlfriend is a waitress. She makes the 2.83+tips or whatever. During her mandatory meetings AND training where she cant earn tips, she gets paid min wage, 7.50 hr. She was told that was state law.