terminated

[sweetpea137]

I live in Ohio. I was a commision only loan officer for a company who did not pay you draw if you had a month where a loan did not close. I did not come in on a Saturday, ( it was Memorial Day weekend), I did call my boss to say I would not be in. There were four people who did not come in and I was the only one fired. When I came in on Tues., I was told by my boss that my services were no longer needed. When I asked if it was because of Saturday, he replied,"I'll tell you later". As he walked me to my car, he said it was my production. Now, I know my production was okay, I had a loan scheduled to close that day and two in underwriting. Not to mention that there were a few other loan officers who had closed less loans than me, who have been there just as long. My questions are, Was he right in firing only me? Also, he lied about the reason, he was mad because of Saturday, other employees told me so. I was told that I would still get my commission on the loans I had closing. I know two closed and he still hasn't paid me and he won't return my calls. What can I do to get my money, that I worked for? Also, my final question is, I was told that in Ohio if you are commission only and you don't have a sale that you are entitled to a draw equivilent to minium wage. I did ask my boss that and he said yes, you are, but I didn't need it because I was doing fine. Now, if I was doing fine, how was my production low? Should he be paying draw in months when no commission is made and if so, I did have one month where I had no loans close and I did not receive any compensation whatsoever. If I should have been paid, can I still get that as back pay? Any info you can provide will be extremely helpful. I know I was wronged. I do not my job back, I just want my money that I'm entitled to. Thank you.

[LConnell]

First of all, your employer can terminate you for any reason, as long as it isn't for things such as illegal discrimination on the basis of age, race, religion, gender, disability, national origin, etc. That doesn't sound like the case as you said he terminated you for not working on that Saturday.

As far as commissions owed, a lot depends upon the commission plan. Did you get a summary of the plan at the time you were hired? Most often, commission plans have some sort of statement regarding payments should the employee terminate.

I couldn't find anything in Ohio statutes that would mandate an employer pay the commissions past termination. You can verify that with the state. If there isn't any statute or regulation mandating that payment, you must rely on the employer's plan (or interpretation thereof).