Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Work for a Magazine Renewal company doing phone sales. Paid minimum wage plus must meet at least $750. in sales each week. If sales not met that week, supervisor has you sign a sheet saying you agree to meet sales the next week but if you do not then you are not to return to work for two weeks. If you do return, than you work straight commission for the week to meet your quota. Basically, they are saying you are agreeing to be let go without them having to fire you. Also, on your first day of work you are not paid, but must work the first two days (7.25 hr. day) at 20% of the sales you made that day. You don�t even get minimum wage. On the third day, you can clock in "on the books". Is this legal? Must meet a daily sales quota of $50 by 2pm or you must clock out. You can stay and work until 5pm but it is on your own time, in order to meet the $50 sales quota. If you get a $50 sale then they allow you to clock back in and get your minimum wage pay for the time between 2pm-5pm. When you are clocked out you still have to follow their rules, i.e., take breaks when they tell you to, keep dialing and not leave your work station unless to go to bathroom. What happens if you injure yourself when you are clocked out at 2pm but still working? I was told this past Friday, that since I did not meet this week�s goal I needed to sign paperwork and that I wasn't to come in until Wednesday to work. I might mention they had just hired 3 new people that day so they were counting on 2 of us to fail so they could give our desks to new hires. I told them if I signed the sheet it would be under duress that I did not agree as I have met my goals previously. Supervisor said I did not have to sign it. I left at 2pm as I had not met my daily goal and was told to call in Tues. in the afternoon to see if they would need me Wed. Can I ask them to adjust goal for the week seeing that it was not reasonable that I could meet goal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Employees must receive at least the minimum wage for the hours that they work. I cannot tell from your description if your employer is following this rule. There may also be other wage-and-hour rules that are not being followed, but that is not at all clear.
Your employer, however, is free to set goals and expectations for the employee's performance. You can certainly ask for an adjustment in your goal, but your employer has no obligation to agree to the adjustment, or even to negotiate a change.
You also cannot be "clocked out," still working, be required to follow work rules, and not be paid for the hours worked.
I suggest you see an employee-side labor lawyer to discuss the situation. If all employees are subject to an unlawful policy, it may be possible to take advantage of special laws that would not apply if only one employee was affected. Many employee-side attorneys offer a free consultation.
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