According to N.C.G.S. §95-25.7 "Payment to separated employees" -
excerpt " Wages based on bonuses, commissions or other forms of calculation shall be paid on the first regular payday after the amount becomes calculable when a separation occurs."

However, the employee handbook states that final sales commissions will be calculated after the commission system file run which takes place on the 21st of the next month in which separation occurs. In this case my last day was Jan 4th so the file run will not take place until February 21st.

Is this legal/right? Tthey can calculate the payable commissions immediately after the 4th as commissions are based on customer payment. Everything then need is there but they point to their policy. Do I have a leg to stand on to demand payment today? The next regular pay period after Jan 4 was Jan 15.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

I know zip about NC law. I can say though I have worked for CA firms with similar policies that CA considered legal. My last employer, a very large software company, paid commissions 45 days after quarter ending. We had several employees file wage claims demanding immeadiate payment upon termination. In all cases, CA-DLSE agreed that the employer's policy was in compliance with CA law. No real surprise, because the employer had a large in house Legal department who spent serious time making sure that the policies were legal, and as is common, a real hard-*** at the Controller position to make certain that all policies were followed as written. And last I heard, CA is generally considered to have the most employee friendly commission laws in the country.

The key language for NC seems to be "after the amount becomes calculable". That language is almost identical to the CA rule. You might try calling up NC DOL directly and see if they have additional guidance or case law on just what that means, because you cannot be the first person with this question.

If I were a lawyer, which I am not and the legal profession is glad about that, I could argue the case for both sides, but...

You will be paid your commission when you normally would have been paid it, which is not now, but some future date.

Warning! It is common for commission plans to have some sort of caveat about the commission not being earned if the employee is no longer employed when the commission is payable or some variation on that. Sometimes the commission plan makes sense but, often, it looks like a scam designed to fatten the bottom line at the expense of the sales rep.

Warning! It is common for commission plans to have some sort of caveat about the commission not being earned if the employee is no longer employed when the commission is payable or some variation on that. Sometimes the commission plan makes sense but, often, it looks like a scam designed to fatten the bottom line at the expense of the sales rep.

Agreed, although that is state law specific. Such provisions are not legal in CA for example. I have no idea what NC's rules are. And the OP's post indicates that the employer manual specifically says that they pay commissions to terminated employees.

I contacted the Labor Department and they agreed that the company may wait until the Feb if that's the company's policy. The thing is the last commission payment I was paid only ran through the end of September. I would have received the balance of 2007 on Jan 15th but since I wasn't employed at the time they will wait (company policy) until the Feb 23. I think this may be excessive and outside the intent of the NC Law. I may be reaching here but the amount of commissions owed is over $50k.

Do you think I should get a lawyer involved? I mean it's money I've earned. To be fair I was paid about $11k as a draw against the commissioned but the balanced owed is certainly greater than $50k.

Do you think I should get a lawyer involved? I mean it's money I've earned. To be fair I was paid about $11k as a draw against the commissioned but the balanced owed is certainly greater than $50k.

Your decision. I will never tell someone to not get an lawyer. However, you are basically betting that the people you talked to at the NC Labor department do not know what they are talking about. There is a chance that you will be paying money to an attorney to just repeat what NC told you. More over, if I understand your posting, you are going to get paid around February 23rd. Going to court will probably delay this, not speed it up.

Now if they do not pay at all, then sure, talking to a lawyer is certainly indicated.

I just wanted to thank everyone who provided comments...

Thanks