ATLANTA – Employers must accurately count all the hours employees work and include certain commissions earned when calculating overtime pay due. Failing to do so can lead to violations and result in unexpected costs in the form of back wages and, in some cases, penalties.

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division conducted three investigations of Dorsey Tire Co., a Pooler-based tire and automotive repair shop with locations in Summerville and North Charleston, South Carolina, and Pooler, Darien and Dublin, Georgia. Investigators found that Dorsey Tire failed to calculate overtime hours properly by not including time spent on after-hours service calls. Additionally, the employer did not include certain commission payments when calculating overtime pay due to tire technicians and sales employees. By failing to factor those commissions into their overtime rate, the employer paid workers lower overtime rates than required by law.

As a result of these findings, the division cited the employer for violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act’s overtime and recordkeeping requirements, and recovered $79,505 in back wages for 72 workers in both states.

“Employers must calculate and pay proper overtime rates, which can include earned bonuses or commissions, for each hour worked in excess of 40 hours in a work week. Not including all hours of work and commissions earned in overtime calculations denies workers the wages they have legally earned,” said Wage and Hour Division...

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