Real Estate Agents May Be Subject To Minimum Wage And Overtime In California

The California State Labor Commissioner has sued ZipRealty for $17 milli after a Superior Court Judge in Kern County awarded more than $330,000 in unpaid wages to four real estate agents who formerly worked for the company.

The Labor Commissioner contends that hundreds of ZipRealty agents were not paid minimum wage or overtime for hours worked and should have been. The company responds that its real estate agents need not be paid minimum wage and overtime because they are exempt from such requirements as outside salespersons.

Industrial Welfare Commission Order No. 4-2001defines an “outside salesperson” as any person, 18 years of age or over, who customarily and regularly works more than half the working time away from the employer’s place of business selling tangible or intangible items or obtaining orders or contracts for products, services or use of facilities.

The key finding by the Kern County Judge was that the four real estate agents in the case he was handling spent less than fifty percent of their work time away from the office. As such, the exemption for outside salespersons was not available.

Whether the same is true with respect to most ZipRealty agents will be crucial in determining whether the Labor Commission succeeds in her action against the company.

Contact Schein & Cai for all of your employment law needs. Our attorneys have handled a variety of employment law disputes for some of America’s largest high-tech companies, including Yahoo! and Intel. We offer a free initial consultation.

Find us at www.sacattorneys.com.

One Response to “Real Estate Agents May Be Subject To Minimum Wage And Overtime In California”