California Labor Law Attorneys Reexamine Commission Wages in Relation to the Salesperson Exemption
California labor law attorneys have recently received an extended explanation of “commission wages” from the opinion given by the California Second Appellate District court. This explanation related directly to employees that are classified as exempt from overtime under the commissioned salesperson exemption. In the case Areso v. CarMax, Inc., it was decided that CarMax’s commission plan of a flat rate per sale would be considered commission wages.
Essentially the plaintiff Areso was unsuccessful in the class action in which he was claiming misclassification as exempt from overtime under the commissioned salesperson exemption and owed overtime. California labor law attorneys for Areso argued that overtime was owed because CarMax’s commission plan did not meet the requirements as “commission wages” under Labor Code Section 204.1, which necessitates commissions to be “based proportionately on the amount or value” of the sale of the employer’s property or services.
California labor law attorneys for CarMax were pleased to hear the court found CarMax’s commission structure is a “performance-based incentive system and thus fairly understood to be a commission structure” due to the language that commissions can be founded on the “amount” rather than “value” of cars sold, interpreting “amount” to mean the number of cars sold. Furthermore, the court agreed with labor law attorneys for CarMax’s argument that prior decisions necessitate commissions to be base on “a percentage of the price of the product or service” (as first articulated in Keyes Motors, Inc. v. DLSE, 197 Cal.App.3d 557, 563 (1987)) as dicta as it related only to the part of the statutory language in Labor Code § 204.1 interpreting the “value” of the product or service.
In order for someone to be considered exempt under the commissioned salesperson exemption, Labor Code Section 204.1, the employee:
• must be involved principally in selling a product or service (not making a product or rendering a service)
• The amount of their compensation must be based proportionately on the amount or value of the product or service.
The Court opinion also interpret the word “amount” in the statute, and found that a flat payment for each car sold satisfies the statutory stipulation because the commissions are compensated based on the “amount” or number of cars sold. Further, paying a flat amount for each car is “proportionate” because it is a one-to-one proportion where the “compensation will rise and fall in direct proportion to the number of vehicles sold.”
Flat fees and proportionate percentages can be a little confusing if you are unsure whether or not you are classified as exempt correctly you should contact a California labor law attorney to examine your exemption status and determine if you are entitled to any back pay for overtime you may have worked.
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