Trunk Club, a Nordstrom subsidiary, which offers clients personal styling with mid to high end clothing brands recently agreed to pay its employees $1.75 million in a wage lawsuit. The hourly non-exempt workers alleged that they were required to perform work off-the-clock that went unpaid. Nordstrom’s Trunk Club offered their services nationwide with affected employees working in several states including California, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Washington, D.C., and New York.
Under federal and state laws, including the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the California Labor Code affected workers claimed that they were paid on a draw against commission instead of an hourly wage. They regularly worked over 40 hours per week and often off the clock due to requirements set by the company that included working from home, communicating with clients, attending mandatory work-related events after working hours, conducting involuntary independent study and homework, and attending mandatory training and classroom sessions all for which they were never paid wages.
All of the uncompensated time mentioned above was not factored into employees draw versus commission pay amounts. Therefore, these policies and practices enforced by Trunk Club and Nordstrom resulted in employees working hours without being paid all wages, including all required overtime wages earned for hours worked in excess of forty hours per week.
Workers earning commissions often work long hours without the appropriate pay. If you find yourself in sales but are often required to work long hours in order complete tasks and responsibilities that go unpaid, you may be owed wages. Call Fitapelli & Schaffer, LLP for a free consultation at (212) 300-0375 to see if you may have a claim. You may also visit our website for additional information.