I work for an insurance wholesaler. My company pays us base salary plus commission. I have never seen formal commission rules as to when commissions are "earned" or when they can be charged back. Occasionally the owners of the company will send out emails to the producers that their commission on an account will be taken away if the company is charged fines or if they don't like how we are handling an account.

If there is no formal commission policy, can the company do that? I understand charging back on cancelled policies, but I want to know if indiscriminately taking back commission is legal in CA.

Thanks.

Dan

I work for an insurance wholesaler. My company pays us base salary plus commission. I have never seen formal commission rules as to when commissions are "earned" or when they can be charged back.

I believe that is up to the individual "wholesaler" They all make up their own rules, (and the salesmen come out on the short end of the stick.) They should have things down in writing. The main secretary is always the one that knows where the paperwork is. Ask her.

Occasionally the owners of the company will send out emails to the producers that their commission on an account will be taken away if the company is charged fines or if they don't like how we are handling an account.

That is ther perogitive. It is there playground, and you must play by there rules.:(

If there is no formal commission policy, can the company do that? I understand charging back on cancelled policies, but I want to know if indiscriminately taking back commission is legal in CA.

Thanks.

Dan

I have yet to find a state where commissions are protected. If someone can prove me wrong, I would love to find out different. That is why I got out of the insurance business. The commissions are harder to get from the owners than from a Radio station. My supervisor would "cherry pick" the leads and dump the dead enders on his crew. Just remember that once you have your producers license, you can go to work anywhere. The whole "game" made me ill, so I went looking for something where I can sleep at night. School teaching does not pay near as well, but you know that you are making a difference in someones life.