On March 17, 2025, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that “commissions” must be considered “wages” under the New Jersey Wage Payment Law (WPL) and cannot be excluded as “supplementary incentives” because they are tied to...more
What should employers do when there is a dispute about the amount of commissions owed to an employee? Should the employer pay the undisputed amount, withhold the disputed amount, and then wait for a determination from the...more
On March 17, 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously held in Musker v. Suuchi that commissions are included in the definition of “wages” under New Jersey’s Wage Payment Law (“WPL”). Wages under the WPL are defined as...more
When litigating claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), litigants are aware of long-standing case law that essentially awards a prevailing plaintiff with their attorneys’ fees absent extraordinary...more
We previously wrote about the procuring-cause doctrine here. As a refresher, the procuring-cause doctrine provides that a salesperson or other agent who contracts for a commission becomes entitled to payment of the commission...more
On March 28, 2024, in Sutton v. Jordan’s Furniture, Inc., the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) upheld a Massachusetts Superior Court decision finding the furniture retailer’s commission-based compensation scheme...more
In Klauber v. VMWare, the First Circuit upheld an employer’s use of a provision in its compensation plan that allowed it to modify commissions on certain large or atypical sales. These “windfall” clauses are common in sales...more
Psychologist Abraham Maslow once observed, “If the only tool you have is a hammer, it is tempting to treat everything as if it were a nail.” That sums up the state of commission litigation under the Massachusetts Wage Act:...more
In a recent decision in Kennedy v. Weichert Co., the New Jersey Appellate Division concluded that the “ABC Test” under the Unemployment Compensation Law is inapplicable in determining a real estate salesperson status an...more
The Texas Supreme Court recently established a “default rule” which, as the dissent puts it, may “threaten the expectations of Texas at-will employers and employees who have agreed to a commission structure but, for whatever...more
Although it involves Texas law, a recent case illustrates the pitfalls that an employer can face when a former employee makes a claim for commissions or compensation after their employment has ended. It also offers...more
Several years ago, the payment structure for numerous salon and spa employees was turned on its head, as these salons and spas faced liability for paying employees a commission when they were not involved in sales. ...more
Uber will officially classify its British drivers, all 70,000 of them, as “workers” following a “major legal defeat” for the ride-hailing company in the British Supreme Court last month. The move entitles the drivers to “a...more
Under California law, an employee is exempt from California’s overtime requirements and other wage and hour laws if the person is employed in an administrative capacity. To meet this exemption, California’s wage orders and...more
A recent Ontario Superior Court decision, Kerner v. Information Builders (Canada) Inc., 2020 ONSC 2975, clarified whether an employee was entitled to commissions that were “booked and billed” after his job termination, but...more
In Parker v. EnerNOC, Parker alleged that she was terminated less than one month after closing the most lucrative client contract in EnerNOC’s history in part because she complained about the amount of her commission for the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: In a February 12, 2020 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that future commissions a plaintiff would have earned but for her retaliatory termination were subject to trebling under the...more
Arizona law with respect to payment of bonuses and/or commissions is not always clear. There are many issues for both the employer and employee to consider. Below is a summary of some of things both parties should consider in...more
In Massachusetts, a commission is a wage subject to the Wage Act when the amount of the commission “has been definitely determined and has become due and payable.” Accordingly, an employer’s failure to pay a commission which...more
On February 12, 2020, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) issued an opinion with significant implications for Massachusetts employers with commissioned employees. In Parker v. EnerNOC, Inc. (SJC-12703), the SJC...more
The Department of Labor (“DOL”) has revised its Overtime Rule that updates the earnings thresholds necessary to exempt executive, administrative and professional employees from the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (“FLSA”) minimum...more
In 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor introduced a proposed rule which would, in part, double the salary threshold required under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) to maintain exempt status under the “white-collar”...more
On September 24, 2019, the United States Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule revising the overtime exemptions that cover employees designated as executive, administrative and professional – the so-called...more
On September 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced a final rule that, effective January 1, 2020, will increase the salary threshold, by approximately 50%, that so-called “white collar” employees must be paid...more
After years of uncertainty, on September 24, 2019, the Department of Labor released a Final Rule making changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) overtime regulations. BACKGROUND - Since 2004, there had been no...more