On March 28, 2024, in Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld a Massachusetts Superior Court decision finding the furniture retailer’s commission-based compensation scheme...more
On May 19, 2020, the United States Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) implemented a final rule withdrawing partial lists of establishments that it previously interpreted as either having “no retail concept” or...more
On May 18, 2020, the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a new final rule to govern the determination of whether an employer qualifies as a “retail or service” establishment for purposes of...more
Section 7(i) of the Fair Labor Standards Act provides an exemption from the usual overtime pay requirements for certain commissioned employees of retail or service establishments. For decades, the U.S. Department of Labor has...more
I have handled many cases involving the so-called commission exemption under the Fair Labor Standards Act, Section 207(i), and I can safely say that often a big stumbling block for the defendant (i.e. employer) is to show...more
In May, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in Apple Inc. v. Pepper, 139 S. Ct. 1514 (2019), holding that consumers of Apple’s App Store could bring suit against the tech giant for antitrust claims. ...more
In the past, we have highlighted some of the legal risks of employing commission-based employees, as well as some of the methods for limiting those risks. A new court decision out of Illinois provides a good reminder that...more
Last month, the Sixth Circuit revived a lawsuit brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) alleging that a retailer’s commission policy was unlawful in Stein v. hhgregg, Inc., 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 19908 (6th Cir....more
In what may be viewed as a pyrrhic victory, now-defunct[1] “big box” electronics, appliance and furniture retailer hhgregg’s commission-with-draws compensation program generally was lawful under the FLSA, the Sixth Circuit...more
On October 12, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals partially approved and partially rejected an unusual pay plan designed to satisfy federal minimum wage requirements. In Stein v. HHGregg, Inc., the employer placed retail...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: A common feature of many a commission plan is the recoverable draw that is offset against future commissions. The DOL has long held this is a permissible way to satisfy the minimum wage requirement. In a...more
False Ad Suit Survives When Consumers "Swept Into" Purchase - Why It Matters - A California Court of Appeal found that plaintiff consumers had raised triable issues of fact on whether they suffered damages in...more
Companies will sometimes take a chance on a new (or old) salesperson by allowing him/her to work on pure commission. This “eat what you kill” compensation system seemingly creates an incentive to sell with little risk to the...more