Commission Based Pay

[Liza426]

I work for a company in sales and am paid commissions on what is sold and delivered. At one point my manager pulled two commissions on me (took them from me) stating I had applied discounts that should not have been to the customer's sales. The sale was never reviewed with the sales people and in one of the sales mentioned, the sales flyer never mentioned it excluded a certain item (which the customer bought) but did mention other items which we sell. The other commission that was withheld, the manager stated the item had been mispriced (I did not price it) and pulled the commission. I questioned the legality of this and he never gave me answers. I did file a complaint with the Va Wage and Hour and the owner did finally pay me back for these commissions.

I have heard that unless there is a contract between employer and employee regarding commissions, there is little an employee can do to recoup these loses. But this is not fair as most sales people do not have contracts.

Since that time, my manager has made my life at work pure hell. He critizes me for anything and everything; whereas prior to this he held me in the utmost respect as a professional sales person. I have several years in this line of work selling the same products. I feel I am being harrassed due to the fact that I 'blew the whistle' on him, the owner, and the company.

Also, just recently a commission was pulled from two other sales people for a mistake they had made writing a sale/contract.

My question is, what governs and/or what laws apply to commissioned sales people? My view is that: hourly people are not docked if they make a mistake, salaried employees are not docked if they make a mistake, delivery employees are not docked if they damage goods, so how or why should commissioned employees be docked (commissions pulled/not paid) if a mistake is made. I agree if a person makes mistakes on a consistant basis, they should be terminated. My sales figures show that I do my job; they are very high.

Anyone know what laws govern this situation? Thanks!