Protecting Your Commissions

    As a former salesman, I remember having to haggle with the owner of a massage-chair business to get the 10% he owed me. He’d find all kinds of excuses not to pay, and if that didn’t work, he’d claim he was broke. Sue him in court? I had no contract to prove my claim, and besides, he was located five states away. Nothing I could do.

    Protecting Your Commissions is all about the rights of the commissioned salesman, and if you’re being paid on a 1099 basis, knowing your rights is essential. Randall Gillary, a legal expert in the field, gives many reasons why employers would try to deny paying. An employee who works for a wage and commission, for instance, might end up selling so much that he makes more than the management. The boss gets jealous and tries to avoid paying. He gives the case of Sharon Holland as an example of how an employer might raise a quota halfway through the year, and make it retroactive.

   The last chapter is on how to know if you’re approaching termination, and I’d say this is the kind of thing you need no matter what job you have. Gillary lists all possible factors; making more money than the boss, new managers who envy what you make, sudden interests in your day-to-day expenses, and general hostility. But he doesn’t say you should just give up. The chapter includes information on how to negotiate your commissions for what you’ve sold before your termination notice.