DeLeon

Plaintiff Saul DeLeon, on behalf of himself and other aggrieved employees, appeals from the judgment following the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of defendant AirTouch Cellular doing business as Verizon Wireless, LLC (Verizon Wireless). DeLeon was a former retail sales representative for Verizon Wireless and filed a complaint seeking civil penalties under the Labor Code Private Attorneys General Act of 2004 (PAGA) (Lab. Code, § 2698) 1 for a violation of section 223, 2 which prohibits the secret underpayment of wages. DeLeon’s compensation plan included commission payments, which Verizon Wireless could recover, or charge back against future commissions, if certain conditions were not met. We must determine whether the chargeback provision violates section 223 by “secretly pay[ing] a lower wage while purporting to pay the wage designated by statute or by contract.” Based upon the undisputed facts, we conclude the commission payments were advances, not wages, and the chargeback provision did not violate the Labor Code because Verizon Wireless may legally advance commission payments to its retail sales representatives before completion of all…