A temporary holiday perfume sales associate took Robinson’s May to court last month to recover $1,236 in lost wages and commissions.
Suzanne Bachli said Robinson’s May officials instructed her to ring up her perfume sales under other associates’ identification numbers, giving them commissions on sales she had closed.
When she complained about the practice on Dec. 15, 2002, she was fired from her job, she testified.
Angela Price, manager of employee relations at Robinson’s May, said they fired Bachli because she couldn’t understand that commissions weren’t given on sales and there were no other positions available at the store.
Judge Pro Tem Linda Gradstein found that Bachli had been properly notified by Robinson’s May officials before she was hired that commissions wouldn’t be awarded and she would be paid $6.75 an hour for her work. As a result, the judge found for Robinson’s May.
After the ruling, Bachli asked Gradstein how she would collect the money from Robinson’s May.
“Don’t you understand?” the judge said. “You don’t get paid anything more. You don’t get another dime. They paid you up until your last day of work, so that’s it.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 3, 2003. Read the original PDF.