Many issues arise when it comes to bonuses or commissions. The following is just a sampling of them.

Incorrectly Calculated Bonuses/Commissions

This is usually a matter of contract law. Depending on how your commission or bonus agreement is worded, you might be entitled to more than you received or might be entitled to monies your employer says you do not qualify for.

Illegally Calculated Bonuses/Commissions

In California, it is often illegal to deduct expenses or other costs of doing business from an employee’s bonus or commissions. This raises a host of issues, such as recovering those expenses, increased commissions owed and additional overtime pay.

This is a very important point for employees who are employed in California and receive only the “net” profits of their store or branch as compensation. This is completely illegal if is the majority of compensation received and would entitle such employees to very high amounts of damages (theoretically, the difference between the “net” and “gross”, plus automatic overtime for the past four years).

Illegally Withheld Bonuses/Commissions

Many employers withhold bonuses or commissions from employees who they have terminated, because many employers have policies that require an employee to be employed on a certain date in the future for that employee to receive a bonus or commission.

However, this is not always legal. If you have already met the conditions required to receive the bonus or commission and the only reason you do not get it is because the employer terminated you a few days before the bonus was paid out, then that should not keep you from earning your bonus.