I employed a salesperson who worked for me for 51 days. He was paid base plus commission. While employed he sold an event (we are in the audio visual field). Prior to the event dates, he quit the position. He is now seeking a commission check for this event.

My question is whether or not I owe him a commission check? Until now, I have never clearly defined when commission is earned and in practice have had commission earned after the event has ended and I can determine the net profit of the show. Any help would be greatly appriciated. I want to be fair on both sides.

The problem is that the definition of when the commission was "earned" has not been defined. However, if your practice has been as you describe, what have you done in the past?

I have only had one other sales person work for me in the past and he only received commission on events that took place while he was still employed with us. Thanks for you help.

MA may have some specific statutes regarding this; hang on for our MA experts. :)

Even though I am in MA, it's been a number of years since I dealt with commission payouts. However, the last time I had the question come up (which was in late 1999 or early 2000) I contacted the AG's office and they told me that I owed the employee for any sales that he closed, but not for any sales he may have set in the works but which were closed by another salesperson after he quit.

Phil, is that still the case?