Question regarding my girlfriends pay structured at her hair stylist job and wondering if this is legal or morally ethical as a business.
She gets paid hourly wage of 12$/hr OR Commission and work strictly 32hours per week, If she makes more than her hourly wage she will then make commission which is 45% and 5% of any retail sold. (Let’s forget about the 5% because 75% of the time they don’t even add that on to the paycheck)
However I have a few questions.. I can see how much she makes in total sales and they take out 10% of every pay period for “Back Bar / Product cost” See example below.
Example:
Current Period Net Service Sales = 715$
However the total Sales on her check is only 643.50
(Her paystub does not show her making 715$ only the internal system)
And then the salon takes out the 45% commission she made over the “Paystub sales”
We’re left with 289.58$GROSS (Same hours worked as if she was doing 12$/hr)
I’m confused because I did the math & taking out our state taxes she’s making less $$ making commission then she would if she didn’t make commission and stayed at her hourly rate of 12$/hr..
12$/hr is 384 GROSS average with roughly 314$ take home, so even if she made 890$ in sales which is technically 2.3x the threshold of her 12$/hr (Which is what is needed to make commission as it’s anything over your hourly wage per 384$/32hrs GROSS = commission pay) she will then still be making less than her hourly wage.. after the 10% on the “Back bar / Product costs” + the 45% commission. Is this to just make a pay seem more appealing or what’s going on here?
Sometimes she will work 32hours and make 20-100$ over her 12$hr salary that week and be paid less than our states minimum wage after the 10% back bar/ Product cost and 45% commission is done.. I thought this was very wrong.
I’m also concerned because they messed up her paystubs a few times and paid her less than she’s owed and they paid her in cash and just said they will deduct it on their end for “product” rather than fixing her paystubs, etc. Also another concern I have is she makes 5%/10%/15% of retail commission of anything she sells but some paychecks she’ll sell 100-300$ in retail products and they aren’t even on her paystub.. nor are TIPS.
Any insight? I myself have never deep dived into commission jobs so I’m honestly am unfamiliar with this and asking for help.
Few main questions I have
- Are they supposed to show the 10% they’re taking out on the paystub and the actual correct total net sales she has made for that week?
- Should she be paying a flat 10% everytime even if she doesn’t use that much product.. does the business keep record for how much product is being used vs. cost?
- Should she be making commission where sometimes the end cost after the 10% back bar/product cost & 45% commission being taken out = less than min wage?
- Why are her tips not on her paystubs (non-cashed)
- Should they be voiding her paycheck or creating a new paycheck when they mess it up rather than just paying her cash for x amount they messed up on?