I think focusing on the fact that you paid for your own commission is beside the point. For most people in most states, how you got your commission doesn't matter; once you have a commission, you can charge any where from zero up to the maximum fee your state allows. (I know there are a few state laws that are exceptions to this idea.)
The real issue is that you are doing this during working hours. There are really two distinct situations that might be going on here.
Scenario 1: The documents being notarize are related to your employer's business. Getting a salary and an extra fee on top of it seems pretty dubious to me. If you are getting any significant notary work outside of working hours, that should cover the expenses involved in getting insurance, bond, commission, stamp, etc. The share of those expenses attributable to one or two notarizations done at work would be negligible. An advantage of doing it during working hours for no fee is it would be pretty clear you're doing it as an employee, so if anything goes awry, you're probably covered by your employer and/or their insurance company.
Scenario 2: the boss needs to have a personal document notarized, that has nothing to do with the company that employs you. That would be akin to selling your old car to a coworker during a lunch break. That might be OK, especially if you have well-defined breaks where you could do that, but it might be wiser to just not charge the boss. |
