Unpaid Commissions Lawyer

Summary: When your commission pay is denied by your employer, you have the right to take legal action immediately to seek unpaid wages. Contact an experienced unpaid wages attorney to discuss your legal options.

Wages are a right, and when your employer refuses to pay what is owed you can take legal action. Depending on the industry and company, employees can be paid in various ways, including on a piece rate, hourly, salaried, or commission basis.

If you are paid on commission, your earnings are still protected by many of the same legal safeguards as those of other employees. If your employer is withholding commission pay that you have earned, an unpaid wages attorney can help you pursue all available remedies.

An experienced unpaid commissions lawyer will protect your rights while seeking maximum recovery of compensation owed to you under the law.

Forms of Wage Theft Involving Unpaid Commissions

For individuals working in sales-related roles, it is standard to earn money from each sale of a particular product or service. A commission is often paid based on the number of sales a worker makes or the number of accounts the worker lands.

Commissions may sometimes be calculated via other methods, such as:

• When an employee achieves a certain percentage increase in sales or
• Hits a certain dollar volume in sales by the end of a specified period

While commissions are often paid based on a percentage of total sales, commission payments may also be paid out as flat fees.

There are various ways that an employer may try to keep back commissions that it legally owes to a worker. These include dubious tactics such as:

• Changing the basis on which the commission is calculated
• Altering the amount of the commission during the calculation window
• Blatantly withholding commissions from workers
• Refusing to pay earned commissions to an employee who resigns from the company
• Refusing to enter into a commission agreement with the employee

While the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) does not require employers to pay employees commissions, all earned commissions are considered wages. This means that an employer has a legal obligation to pay commissions that are owed to workers.

Commissions may be paid to workers on top of a set hourly or salaried amount, but the employer cannot deduct those commissions from the employee’s regular earnings. If your employer owes you for unpaid commissions, a lawyer can help you file a claim to enforce your right to seek backpay plus damages.

Collecting Unpaid Commissions in a Wage and Hour Dispute

If you are an employee paid by sales commissions, you should have a written agreement that details provisions concerning your commission pay. It is illegal for a company to withhold commissions from an employee or an independent contractor if they have earned those commissions subject to the terms of an existing contract.

When no contract exists, proving the employer’s obligation to pay a commission can be more difficult. However, a skilled unpaid commissions attorney can examine the available evidence to determine what compensation is owed and the most effective grounds for pursuing a claim.

Numerous forms of evidence could prove vital to establish the right to unpaid commissions in these cases, such as:

• Written communications
• Notes
• Detailed sales records
• Paystubs
• Patterns and past practices

Other documents, such as employment records and company policies related to commission structures, could also support a claim for compensation.

Contact an Unpaid Commissions Attorney

After hours, days, or weeks of hard work, you have every right to receive your hard-earned commissions. If your employer is refusing to pay commissions you have earned, you need legal help to assert your wage rights.

An unpaid commissions lawyer can help you get the money you are legally entitled to. Contact us today via our online form or chat to request your free and confidential review.