Commission Withheld by Employer - Advice Please!

DarkKnight1

Hi guys,

Would really appreciate any advice. I've been working for a global leading company in the IT sector in a sales role for just over 3 years and recently handed in my notice under some duress, in order to avoid a nasty situation of my company effectively managing me out.

This is following several instances where I've sold some of our services B2B and being paid the commission on the deals. However, some of these companies never paid their contracted bill and at the end of the year my company has effectively withheld any subsequent commissions and bonuses I should have been paid in order to pay off the commission I was originally paid. They claim that as the companies I sold to never paid their bill, they (my company) are entitled to do this.

When it comes to earning (but not being paid) commissions and bonuses to pay this back I have obviously been quite unmotivated and have lost out on promotional opportunities as a result.

Before I consider spending & possibly throwing away money on an employment lawyer to potentially try and get this money back - does anyone have any knowledge or advice on this situation? Also I handed in my notice and my gardening leave ends this month.

Any help greatly received!

Thanks,

DarkKnight

Undervalued

This all depends on the terms and conditions of your bonus scheme.

There are two possibly separate issues. Are the firm entitled to withhold bonuses if the client does't pay? Maybe but, as I say, it depends on the terms.

Are the firm entitled to withhold a bonus because you are leaving? Again, quite possibly and this is not uncommon.

The word "discretionary" crops up quite a lot and may well feature in your contract.

You need to get one to one advice from an employment specialist who can see the relevant paperwork.

Your house insurance may provide legal advice for employment issues. if so this would be worth exploring.

Presumably you are not a member of a union?

bap98189

The answer will depend on your contract. It is quite common for sales staff's commission only to be due if/when the invoices are paid in full. If that is what your contract says, and you have been paid commission, then the customer has subsequently not paid, then your employer would be within their rights to retract those commission payments.

agrinnall

It seems pretty reasonable to me that if the employer doesn't receive the money from the companies that were sold to then there should be no commission due for those sales - 10% (or whatever your commission rate is) of nothing is a big fat zero.

bevanuk

Sounds normal to me darkknight.
If they haven't been paid then they are entitled to take it from your comissions (unless your contract says otherwise) as someone mentioned above 'discretionary' will be the key word here.
They haven't gained any revenue from your work, so you don't get that benefit either.