If I haven’t recieved my comp plan for the year and thus haven’t received my commission, do I have any recourse?
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If I haven’t recieved my comp plan for the year and thus haven’t received my commission, do I have any recourse?
I an sales and so on a 50/50 plan salary and commission. All other sales associates have their annual plan but me. I have repeatedly asked for a plan and even meetings to discuss but have been blown off. My company is based in GA but I work from home in CA. I am also being told I can’t go work for other companies in my industry because of a non-compete that they forced us to sign.
Asked on July 8, 2019 under Employment Labor Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 5 years ago | Contributor
If you don't have a currently in-effect written employment or commission contract guarantying you a commission, your employer does not have to give you your plan: without a written contract to the contrary, you are an "employee at will" and the employer can change or eliminate your compensation at will--though if they eliminate it, they have fired you, simply not in so many words. Even if they don't entirely eliminate your compensation, if they reduce it enough--such as by 50%--that may be considered "constructive" (or effective) termination, by making your job such that no reasonable person would do (i.e. taking away half of what you did the job for).
So you can't make them give you a commission plan if they don't want to or before they are ready to do so. This means you are presently working without commissions and there is no guaranty that will change, and if it does-that is if they do give you a plan--they have no obligation to retroactively credit or pay you for sales you made prior to the plan being put in place.
A noncompeititon agreement is generally not enforceable if your employer either officially or constructively terminates you, since they are taking away the thing (your job or compensation) in exchange for which you agreed to not compete. So if they do not give you a commission plan and cut your pay by half, it is. very likely that the noncompetition agreemen will not hold up: the law doesn't let an employer simultaneously take away much or all of your pay from preventing you from working elsewhere--they cannot deprive you of the ability to earn a living.
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