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 A hair salon had a policy of deducting a small

amount of money per customer from its stylists’

paychecks to cover the cost of products used in the

service. This is common practice in the salon

industry, yet a court found that the deduction could

violate the Wage Act’s prohibition on deductions

not authorized by law, and that therefore the salon

could be liable for three times the deducted

amounts.

D. Commissions and Bonuses

Commissions are considered “wages” under the

Wage Act, but bonuses are not. This can create some

confusion, as different employers use different words for

elements of their compensation plans. In general, if an

incentive payment is based on an employee’s own

contribution to revenue (the most common example

52| Rules of the Road