Advances Are Not The Same As Commissions.

Plaintiff was a salesman for Verizon, and his pay was based on a compensation plan, which was basically an hourly wage plus commissions.  New hires were advanced 100% of their target commission, but were paid for their actual performance, and advanced commissions were taken back if a customer cancelled service. Plaintiff filed a complaint alleging he was not paid the full commissions he earned when his commissions were charged back after customer cancellations.  He sought civil penalties under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (Labor Code §2698) for a violation of Labor Code §223 which states:  “Where any statute or contract requires an employer to maintain the designated wage scale, it shall be unlawful to secretly pay a lower wage while purporting to pay the wage designated by statute or by contract.”  The trial judge concluded plaintiff’s commission payments were advances, and not wages, and entered summary judgment.  The appellate court, noting plaintiff was always paid his base wages, affirmed, stating §223 was not violated.  DeLeon v. Verizon Wireless, LLC  (Cal. App. Second Dist., Div. 3; July 10, 2010) 207 Cal.App.4th 800.