Overview
Has your employer failed to pay your sales commission or wages within 72 hours after you terminated your employment? No matter how big or small the company, the California Labor Code requires employers to pay you all your earned wages on your last day of employment, or within 72 hours (depending on whether you gave notice). California’s labor code has some of the most employee-friendly wage statutes in the country. If you sell products or services and receive a commission for this work, California law requires that you be paid in a timely manner. If you believe your commissions were paid late, or you were not paid the full amount you earned, you may be entitled to recover the money you are owed plus a penalty.
The attorneys at FDAzar have years of experience in wage and hour cases in California and the track record to succeed on your case as well.
How Do We Know?
We represent sales employees in California who received late commission payments from Hewlett Packard, HP, Inc., and Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company. The judge has certified the case as a class action and we are working to get current and former HP employees compensated for the delays.
We know from representing thousands of HP sales people that delays in commission payments are widespread in the tech industry and elsewhere. We want you to know your rights and to help you get fairly compensated for all the work you do. After all, you help these companies make billions of dollars every year. You should be appropriately compensated for your contribution without having to wonder when a check will show up.
We know from our experience that delays in getting your commissions paid can cause all kinds of problems: trouble paying the mortgage, car payments, medical bills, or even just Christmas presents for your family. The California Labor Code recognizes that delays are harmful: that’s why you could get up to a month’s worth of pay as compensation.
These delays often arise in the fast-paced world of sales when commission tracking and payroll systems are not robust enough to ensure that employees are timely paid the commissions they earn. You may turn to management and supervisors to no avail – in fact, they may be part of the problem! We are here to help stop the practice of not getting paid your commissions on time when no one else can, or will, help.
Nature of the Claims
The California Labor Code requires that all employers pay you all your earned wages on your last day of employment, or within 72 hours (depending on whether you gave notice). Cal. Labor Code § 202. Commissions are included in the definition of wages. Cal. Labor Code § 200.
If you left a job and it took weeks or months to get your last commission check, you may be entitled to financial compensation for these abusive wage practices. This applies regardless of whether you were terminated, workforce-reduced, laid off, or quit voluntarily.
California Labor Code Section 203 states in part:
“If an employer willfully fails to pay . . . any wages of an employee who is discharged or who quits, the wages of the employee shall continue as a penalty from the due date thereof at the same rate until paid or until an action therefore is commenced; but the wages shall not continue for more than 30 days.”
In other words, if it took 30 days or more to get your last commission paycheck, you could be entitled to up to 30 days’ worth of pay. Even if it was only a couple weeks, you may still be entitled to compensation for that time. And we believe that your daily “rate” should include base salary, commission, and any other income you received.
The Labor Code also sets deadlines for commission payments during the time you are employed, and there are penalties for delays in those payments as well.
Of course, big tech and other companies have the resources to hire attorneys to try to get out of paying commissions to their employees. That’s why you need experienced attorneys to help you navigate the complex set of laws that apply to commission payments and the timing of those payments.
If you believe you have been a victim of this type of practice, the attorneys at FDAzar are ready to investigate you claim. The attorneys at FDAzar have been fighting for salespeople in California for years. We have the experience, resources, and the track record to go up against the biggest companies and win. We have already helped change commission payment and other wage and hour practices in some of the largest companies in the world.
You should not have to wonder about when you will get paid. The California Labor Code contains some of the most employee-friendly wage statutes in the country. These employee-friendly wage statutes are designed to protect you from being underpaid for your hard work. When you go to work for a company, your employer has a responsibility to make sure that you are compensated for your hard work in a timely manner.
If you sell products or services and receive a commission for this work, California law requires that you get paid in a timely manner. It doesn’t matter if your company calls them commissions, incentives, sales compensation, or something else: if a company promises to pay you variable pay based on the dollar amount of sales that you make, it is likely a commission under the law. If you believe you received your commissions late, or never received them at all, you may be entitled to monetary damages. You could not only get compensated for the delays in your payments, you could help other employees to get compensated and change the way these companies operate.
We aim to bring positive change to the entire industry. By working together to hold these companies accountable, we can help ensure that in the future, all employees are paid for their hard work on time and in full.
The dedicated class action department of FDAzar fights to ensure that companies comply with the law. Class action cases are designed to help groups of people who have all been harmed in the same way to enforce their rights, especially when it may be too expensive for a single individual to go after a big company. Not only can class actions help individuals obtain the compensation they have earned, they can change the way companies do business, stop illegal practices, and protect everyone’s health and well-being.
Why a Class Action?
Class action cases are designed to help groups of people who have all been harmed in the same way to enforce their rights, especially when it may be too expensive for a single individual to go after a big company. Not only can class actions help return wages that were either not paid or paid late, these cases can change corporate behavior.
Some people are concerned about going after a current or former employer, fearing they will be blacklisted or retaliated against. Fortunately, California law protects employees from retaliation by an employer against employees who seek to assert their rights. An employer who retaliates against an employee can be subjected to further litigation and could be forced to pay significant damages for retaliating or be subject to court orders to stop any retaliatory conduct.
