When is a Commission Considered "Earned" Under the Wage and Hour Laws?
Determining When Commissions Are Earned in Massachusetts: Policies and Legal DefaultsIt is fairly easy to tell when wages or salary are "earned" for purposes of the Wage Act, based simply on time worked during a pay period. It can get more complicated to know when commissions are earned.
First, an employer can establish by policy when commissions are considered earned. A policy might say they are earned when the order is placed, or when the product is delivered, or when the customer is invoiced, or even not until full payment is received. If there is a written policy, this definition of "earned" will control. If there is no written policy, the Attorney General has opined that the default position should be that commissions are earned when the customer agrees to purchase the product or service, even if there is a time delay in deliver, invoicing, or payment. It is particularly important to know when the obligation to pay is triggered in the context of termination of employment. Many employers will say that you need to still be employed at the time of commission payout to receive commissions- the reality is that if you have earned those commissions before termination, even if they have not yet been paid, you should be entitled to them. Learn more here about commission pay under the Massachusetts Wage Act. |
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Emily Smith-Lee is the owner and founder of slnlaw. She is a 1996 graduate of Boston College Law School. She was previously a partner at the Boston office of a large international firm, where she worked for thirteen years before starting the firm that became slnlaw in 2009. She has been recognized as Massachusetts Superlawyer each year since 2013, and in 2018 earned recognition as one of Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly's Lawyers of the Year. She has written a book on employment law: Rules of the Road, What You Need to Know About Employment Laws in Massachusetts, and helped thousands of clients on both the employee and employer side with severance and non compete review and negotiation, wage and hour, discrimination and retaliation disputes, and navigating the nuances of the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law.
Rebecca Rogers: Rebecca is a 2006 graduate of Boston College Law School, and has worked with slnlaw since 2013. She previously worked as an intellectual property litigation attorney for Fish & Richardson in Boston, Massachusetts, and clerked for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Rebecca has helped clients with independent contractor misclassification and wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, and review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements.
Jenna Ordway: Jenna is a 2013 graduate of Quinnipiac Law School, and also earned an LLM in Taxation from Boston University in 2015. She has been affiliated with slnlaw since 2011, first as a law clerk and then as an attorney. Jenna has been recognized since 2019 as a "Rising Star" by Massachusetts Superlawyers. Jenna has helped clients with review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements, employee misclassification and wage and hour disputes, and advice to small business owners about employment law and other business matters.
Elijah Bresley: Eli is a 2014 graduate of Seton Hall Law school, and has worked with slnlaw since 2020. He previously worked for a boutique employment law firm outside of Boston, and then for the Labor and Employment department of a large Boston firm. He also spent a year clerking for the judges of the Superior Court in Hartford, Connecticut. Eli has helped clients on the employee and employer side with all varieties of employment law issues, including independent contractor misclassification and wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements, and litigation in state and federal courts on employment related issues.
Sharleen Tinnin: Sharleen is a 2010 graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, and has been with slnlaw since 2023. Prior to joining slnlaw, she worked with King, Tilden, McEttrick & Brink, P.C. on complex civil litigation matters. She previously worked for the United States Department of Justice, and received an "Excellence in Justice" award in 2017. Sharleen has helped clients with independent contractor misclassification and wage and hour disputes, employment discrimination, harassment and retaliation claims, review and negotiation of employment and independent contractor agreements, and litigation in state and federal courts on employment related issues.
How We Can Help
We have years of experience helping employees and employers navigate employment law issues relating to commission pay, and can help you get clarity on your rights and obligations under Massachusetts law governing payment of commissions. You can use the button below to schedule a call back from a member of our team to learn more about how we can help, or give us a call at 781-784-2322.
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