The Break Room
October 22, 2026
published on rippedoffworker.com
I get a base hourly rate plus commission. When I go over forty hours they pay me time and a half on the base rate only — the commission never gets counted. Is that legal?
A federal regulation says commissions “are payments for hours worked and must be included in the regular rate” — whether they are someone’s only pay or sit on top of an hourly rate, and whether or not they are paid late. Some commissioned jobs are exempt from federal overtime altogether, so that question comes first.
Read the answer on rippedoffworker.com →- I wait tables and we pool our tips at the end of the night. My manager takes a share out of the pool before it gets split. Is that legal?
- I’m on a salary. They’ve had me working six days a week, close to sixty hours, for almost a month now. Is there a legal limit on how many hours they can make me work?
- I worked a stack of extra hours last week. My supervisor says they don’t pay overtime, they’ll just give me the hours back as time off later. Is that legal?