On September 26, 2011, the California Labor Commissioner filed a $17 million suit against ZipRealty for violations of minimum wage and overtime pay of its real estate agents. The premise for lawsuit is that ZipRealty misclassified its agents as exempt “outside salespersons” when they were in fact non-exempt employees.  The significant fact here is the allegation that the real estate agents spend less than 50% of their time away from the office. If the ZipRealty loses, it would be liable for 4 years of unpaid wages, meal and rest break premiums, unpaid overtime, plus other penalties and interests. Yikes. What is the difference between exempt vs non-exempt employees? We’ll take a look at who qualifies as an exempt outside salesperson. According to Wage Order Nos. 1-2001-16-2001, §2, an outside salesperson is a person age 18 or older who customarily and regularly spends more than half of his or her 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. What the lawyers will spend a … Continue reading →