New Jersey Wage And Hour Commissions Lawyers

Pursuing back pay and statutory damages for unpaid commissions

Under New Jersey law, commissions are treated as wages that are payable when they are earned. However, some New Jersey firms flout this rule, either deliberately or erroneously. If your employer denies you commissions you’ve earned, Deutsch, Atkins & Kleinfeldt, P.C. in Hackensack will fight for the amounts you deserve.

How New Jersey governs commission pay

In Musker v. Suuchi, Inc., a precedential case in which Bruce Atkins of our firm represented the plaintiff, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that earned sales commissions are wages, which an employer must pay every payday under NJ wage payment law, even though the employee also receives a base salary. Commission agreements, offer letters and compensation plans clarify how commissions are calculated and therefore will often be powerful evidence that they are wages.

Unpaid commissions withheld by Bergen County employers

There are a number of ways in which employers might deprive their employees of commissions to which they are entitled, such as:

• Delaying payment longer than the law allows
• Making deductions that are not required by law or contract
• Claiming that the commissions were not earned
• Treating the commissions as optional and refusing to pay them

Our Bergen County employment lawyers will enforce your rights to commission payments.

Commission disputes after termination or resignation

A common trigger for commission disputes is the resignation or termination of the employee. The employer might argue that the employee thereby forfeited any unpaid commissions. Alternatively, they might pay commissions only on amounts paid by customers before the resignation or termination. However, as a matter of law, a New Jersey employee is entitled to commissions on all sales he or she secured, regardless of whether the employee remained employed or when the customer paid.

Misclassification and its impact on commission pay

Independent contractors are not entitled to on-time payment of commissions. However, you are not an independent contractor under New Jersey law unless the following three-prong “ABC test” is satisfied:

1. You are free from control or direction over the performance of your work.
2. The work is either outside the usual course of business or is performed outside all of the places of business of the company for which it is performed.
3. You are engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business.

Employers might misclassify employees as independent contractors, either intentionally or because of confusion with the more lenient federal standard. Nevertheless, if your employer is in the business of selling the products for which you earn the commission, if you work at your employer’s store and if you don’t have your own business, you are an employee entitled to commissions in a timely manner.

Recovering unpaid commissions and additional damages

If you are not being paid commissions on a timely basis, you may file an administrative claim with the New Jersey Department of Labor and Industry. You also have the option of filing a lawsuit in state court. If you prevail in your claim or suit, you may be entitled to:

• Your back pay
• Liquidated damages equal to as much as 200% of the unpaid commissions
• Interest, where the employer delays complying with an administrative order for payment or has withheld the commissions for an unreasonable amount of time
• Reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of recovering your unpaid commissions in a court case

We seek the maximum recoverable amounts for our clients deprived of commissions to which they are entitled.

Contact a dedicated New Jersey wage and hour commissions lawyer

The attorneys at Deutsch Atkins & Kleinfeldt, P.C. in Hackensack, New Jersey represent employees in unpaid commission cases. Call 551-245-8894 or contact us online to arrange a free initial consultation.