Sales Commission - Iowa

[camdog]

If an employee that is strictly paid based on sales commission and they are terminated, how far in advance does the employee get paid commission? Example = Employee earned $1500 in sales commission based on sales collections collected during the month of Nov. They would be paid the $1500 in December. The employee is terminated in mid January. Do they get paid the entire commission they earned from Dec. and should they expect to get paid for the sales they made during January that have not yet paid? In other words, sales that are just on the books.

[Pattymd]

What does the commission agreement say? This is not an issue that is normally addressed in any depth by state (or federal) wage and hour laws.

[camdog]

The commission agreement states that commission is payable the month following when the money actually comes in. However, the employee was fired for misconduct.

[Pattymd]

If the agreement is silent about the terms of payment when an employee is terminated, for misconduct or otherwise, there may be a contract issue. I would recommend seeing an attorney for his/her advice, as contract law can be case- and state-specific and the exact wording of the agreement is critical.