Back dated commision

Gary2405

Hi could anyone help, i`m currently working the month of May and getting paid me basic wage. Would i be entitled to a % of the commission i would have earn`t in April? due to me been on furlough in April, no commission made, if that make sense. Or have i just to make do with my basic for this month?

Jeremy535897

Commission that is contractually payable to you can form part of your "reference salary" for calculating what your employer can claim under CJRS. If you are a variable pay employee (most likely to be the case if your income varies every month), your reference salary should be the higher of:

• your pay for the equivalent calendar period last year
• your average monthly pay rate for 2019/20 up to the date you were furloughed

For full details see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-80-of-your-employees-wages-to-claim-through-the-coronavirus-job-retention-scheme

Grumpy_chap

As Jeremy said, your furlough may (or possibly should) have included an allowance for the period you were on furlough (April) - that may have been restricted by the cap.  You have not mentioned whether your employer paid the top up.

For May, you are working and being paid your basic wage.  I assume your normal way of working is that you are paid basic wage plus commission on top based upon achieving some target (sales?) that justify the commission being paid.  If you are working May and not receiving the commission, I assume that is because  you have not met the target.  I recognise that could be compromised because of coronavirus and maybe you were doing a different task than normal which meant achieving the target was impossible.  Either way, the fact you did not achieve the target is not the employer's fault either so they have no reason to pay the commission base on the target that has not been achieved.

It might well be that you need to see the positive of having a job to go back to in the long term and tolerate the short term 'hit'.