QUESTION
Can an employer compensate you based on a new commission plan before you actually sign the new commission plan?
Asked on May 02nd, 2012 on Labor and Employment - Florida
More details to this question:
I am a salary and commissioned sales person in Florida. The company I work for is based in Minnesota. At the begininng of the year we were told that there would be a new compensation plan for our commission for 2012. Hearing about the changes us sales representatives were not too happy. The proposed new plan for 2012 is not as favorable as the 2011 plan. Having said that, we have yet to receive and sign an official 2012 compensation plan. In the past whenever a new compensation plan was going to occur we would be mailed a new plan that we had to read and sign. It is now May 2, 2012 and we have yet to sign a new plan for 2012. Despite not seeing and signing a new plan the company is paying us based on this new plan. Therefore, my question is can a company begin compensating one differently from the last official compensation plan that was signed?
2 ANSWERS
The employment terms, including the compensation structure, does not need to be reduced to a writing for it to be enforceable. Here, the fact you've been accepting the reduced commissions since January would not be a favorable factor for you should this case end up in litigation. Ultimately, the prior written agreement would need to be evaluated by a lawyer in your area to see what effect, if any, it has on the current compensation schedule.
Answered on May 23rd, 2012 at 3:21 PM
Labor and Employment Attorney serving Atlanta, GA
2 Awards
Generally employment is considered a unilateral contract. An employer makes an offer of terms of employment that it will promise to the employee, and the employee can either accept the terms by coming to work, or reject them by quitting.
That means that once the employer makes known to you the new commission plan (whether in writing or orally) the employee is free to reject them by refusing to continue employing the employee) or to accept them (by coming to work after the announcement of the new terms is made known to the employee). The fact that you haven't signed it is not particularly important so long as you know about it.
Michael Caldwell
404-979-3150
Answered on May 09th, 2012 at 5:06 PM