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Sales representatives are often misclassified under the wage laws - make sure you are being paid every cent you deserve.

If you are a sales representative and your employer does not pay you overtime you may be getting cheated on your paycheck every month! We frequently help recover overtime wages for sales representatives who were denied overtime. Many employers will try and tell sales reps that they are exempt, or that since they are paid a salary they cannot receive overtime. This is simply not true.

Many sales representatives work in a sales office, cold-calling from a phone list or contacting interested buyers. Some sales employees go door-to-door to make sales or travel extensively for their job.

Common job titles or duties for sales representatives:

• Direct sales, person-to-person contact
• Sales agents (for example in real estate or in manufacturing) 
• Consultative sales
• Telemarketing or telesales
• Pharmaceutical sales representative
• Business-to-business sales

Sales representatives and overtime laws under the FLSA

There are two types of sales representatives and you should understand the difference between inside and outside sales representatives because it affects your paycheck. After an initial, free consultation we are quickly able to determine if there has been a violation.

1. Inside Sales employees and the FLSA

Inside sales representatives are normally entitled to commissions on the sales they make, minimum wage, currently $7.25 an hour, and time-and-a-half for overtime hours. For example, if you are an inside salesperson and you are paid minimum wage ($7.25), then your time-and-a-half rate is $10.75 per hour for every overtime hour worked in a week.

Inside salespersons usually work at one or two locations selling specific products and may spend part of their workday making cold calls or following up on leads and sometimes they may even deliver products. The majority of their time is spent selling whatever the business product may be.

2. Outside Sales employees and the FLSA exemption

There is an exemption in the FLSA that applies to outside sales employees and exempts them from minimum wage and overtime pay. However certain tests have to be met in order for this to apply, including:

• a review of specific job duties, and
• employee cannot be paid a salary basis less than $455 per week.

Outside salespeople normally do not spend their time at one office or business location. They may make calls and follow up on leads, but they have to go and find many of those leads. They may set up a booth at a mall or they may sell their products door to door.

Are You a Misclassified Salesperson?

What to Do If You Have a Claim as a Sales representative owed overtime

Contact one of our wage attorneys at 888-449-2068 today or send us a confidential contact form to make sure you are being paid every cent you earn. You can also order our free book, The 10 Biggest Mistakes that can Hurt Your Wage & Overtime Claim to start learning more about wage and overtime claims.

Sales representatives - Find out if you are owed money under the FLSA.

Video: If I'm paid a salary can I still receive overtime pay?

Our experienced employment attorneys have helped hundreds of clients across many Texas cities, including: Austin, Friendswood, Fort Hood, Deer Park, Lufkin, The Colony, Lake Jackson, Spring, Corsicana, Rosenberg, Waxahachie, Alvin, Nacogdoches, Channelview, Copperas Cove, Georgetown, Mansfield, Harker Heights, Dickinson, Pflugerville, Ennis, South Houston, Stafford, Bellaire, Gatesville, Gainesville, Galveston, San Antonio, Dallas, Fort Worth and more.

Blog for Sales Representatives

• Novartis pays $99 million to settle federal FLSA lawsuit
• Top Five Things a Car Salesman Can Do to Protect His Paycheck
• Supreme Court to decide pharma overtime fate for outside sales exemption
• Do you ignore pay issues at work for fear of being fired? Find out how two voices helped thousands of others.
• More Tricks and less Treats for Hershey's workers: Two wage and hour lawsuits on the chocolate giant's doorstep.
• Sales employees sue Groupon for unpaid overtime.
• Verizon Wireless unpaid overtime class-action lawsuit in California

Frequent Questions for Sales Representatives:

• I am a sales representative working in California - is my employer supposed to pay me overtime?