Ex employer withholding commission

[mcb1975]

On June 9th I resigned from a Job and was put on gardening leave for a month, despite offering to work out my month notice period.

 

The contracted salary broke down as an annual wage, plus a monthly commission of 2.5% of profits generated by clients under our personal management.

 

The company are stalling on paying me June’s commission on the basis “I wasn’t in work so don’t have a right to it”. I would argue that as the commission was listed on the contract, and the company choose to put me on gardening leave, they have absolutely no right to do this.

 

Is there any legal recourse I can take, as the figure owed could be anything between £500-£1000?

[Sidewinder]

Very difficult to say whether there is or is not a case without knowing precisely the nature of your contract.

 

Check the contract very carefully for exclusion clauses relating to circumstances in which commission may and not be payable, and the nature of the commission payments themselves. If the commission is payable on the basis of business generated by clients whilst under your personal management then this may be sufficient to warrant non-payment as those clients will now be under the direct management of somebody else, but as I say, much will depend on your contract and whether the employer has sufficiently covered their position.

 

Is there any clause regarding termination of employment and the effect that this might have on commission payments? Gardening leave is common practice in certain jobs, so this topic must have been an issue in the past? Is there any mention in the contract of whether you would be put on gardening leave? Was there an element of guaranteed commission? Was there any discussion regarding compensation of earnings through not allowing you to work your notice?

 

Subject to what exactly is contained in the contract and the terms relating to notice there may well be a valid argument that the refusal of your right to notice has led to a loss of earnings - this may be a matter of an Unlawful Deduction. Gardening leave should still entitle the employee to all normal contractual benefits including bonuses and commissions unless these are waived by agreement or compensation. Are you still on GL or have you now left? When was the June commission payable, as you may be out of time for an Employment Tribunal action?

[papasmurf1cx]

Hi

 

I am no expert (they will be along shortly no doubt) but if you have a contract that states you are entitled to this commission I would have thought you have a right to it. However I note you have resigned on the 9th June and there are time limits to starting ET proceedings, normally 3 months. I don't know if those limits apply in these circumstances.

 

Why did you resign? Is this something you previously posted about on another thread?

[honeybee13]

Hello there. I would just add my voice to the others in that commission is regulated by your contract of employment normally. That's where you need to look for the rules. Wherever I've worked, it's been spelled out.

 

My best, HB