Legal Question in Employment Law in California
I am a mobile groomer in Los Angeles California. I am paid by commission only. I started off as an assistant at 10%, and about six months later I was going out to work on my own. At that time I was to I wood be paid only 25% since I wasn't certified.(her daughter, who is certified, is paid 35%) Since then I have gone to Grooming school, graduated, and am now certified. However, My pay has not gone up at all.Since I started working for this company I have never once signed any kind of contract stating how much I would be paid. My clients are often located several cities apart from each other and on average my drive Time inbetween clients is 30 min or more making my drive time per day much more than my actual groom time( not paid for drive time only commission per paid grooming job) My boss asks me to take the truck to be serviced which is not part of my grooming job and was never mentioned to me when I was hired. ( and am not paid to do so) She also has me service clients who are considered trade clients as in they trade some sort of service for our services meaning no payment is ever made for the service. I've noticed my checks have been short consistently every time. When calculated with the trade clients subtracted from my two week total, I come up with a figure around the amount of what I'm paid. In other words there are some clients that I'm not paid for. Is this legal for her to have me groom for some clients, that I'm not paid for.? Also back in February she had hired another groomer and on her first day, we worked together and $350 in cash came up missing at the end of the day. My boss deducted the money out of my paycheck and told me and my mother that she knew I did not take the money, but that I was responsible for it so she took the money out of my paycheck. A week later she fired the new groomer and stated that she had found something that she had lied about and that she was no longer working for us. Is this legal for her to do? She also sends harassing texts on my day off paragraphs long.once I was injured while on the job, I slipped off a curb while getting in to the truck and ended up slicing the side of my ear open. This happened while I was working with the owners daughter. Mat first she refused to take me to the hospital and only agreed to once she spoke to my mother who assured her that it was illegal to ignore my need to seek medical attention. I would like to know if I have grounds to file a suit against the owner of the company I work for. I really didn't want things to come to this but it's not right what she's doing and I'm not the first employee of hers that she has screwed.
1 Answer from Attorneys
It would appear that you have grounds for at least the $350 taken from your paycheck. It is not possible to tell if you have other grounds. Much depends on whether your pay satisfies minimum wage laws. Clients paid on a commission are now supposed to have a contract in writing. It is also not possible to tell if you have a claim based on your injury or the test messages you received.
It would be unlawful for your employer to discipline you in retaliation for a lawsuit -- but some do. You may wish to think about finding another job, in addition to bringing a claim.
You probably should speak to an attorney that handles claims for employees against their employers. Many offer a free initial consultation.
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