New York Commission deductions

[janbarsgee]

My employer is trying to get us to sign a new policy that lets them deduct from our commissioned pay any bad debts more than 4 months old (at the % rate they paid us for those sales).
example paid 20% commission in April for sales made and one customer did not pay bill so now they want to deduct the equivalent of that 20% from current months pay? We are only paid commissions no base salary so I could forsee this deduction also coming out to make pay less than minimum wage if it was a bad month. (When questiones the company says they would then deduct difference from following month to guarantee min. wage.) Are these deductions from our pay of company bad debts legal? And if the customer does eventually pay it the company says they don't have to give us back the commission either? HELP- we are all so confused over this new idea

[cbg]

That kind of deduction is probably not legal, but the fact that it is coming from commission rather than wages may affect a definite answer as commission law is different from wage law in many states. I would suggest you contact your state DOL and ask them.