Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Hello,

I'm seeking advice on behalf of my wife. I'm really going to try and give the condensed version of this story.
Here we go, She works for a national home builder in Colorado.

Employees for this company get a monthly draw that is paid back at 50% increments once commissions for sales are collected.
Typically in this industry they get the bulk of their commissions between Oct and Dec.
Anyhow, they just received this following e-mail changing their commissions as of yesterday:

"The company may, in the Company’s sole and absolute discretion, increase or decrease the percentage of Commissions and Bonuses earned as applied to repayment of Outstanding Draw balance.

Corporate is working on a policy that will be rolled out shortly, in the interim, the following guidelines are being used. Please be aware of these guidelines when you receive your next commission check. If you have any questions, please feel free to give me a call".

% of Outstanding Draw Amount % of Earned Commissions & Bonuses
To Commission in Backlog Balance towards draw amount

1% to 49% 50%
50% to 74% 75%
75% and above 100%


This is different compared to the old process that was 50% across the board.
Basically what this means is they have elected to start taking any back log of "draw" away from these people on the 1st day of the month that the big commissions begin to roll in. They “changed” the process.

Here is the wording in a signed document that every employee signs when hired.

Page 4
III. Compensation
(c) How Commissions are Earned and Paid. No matter related to when a commission shall be deemed earned or paid as set forth in this Employment Letter may be changed except in writing signed by you and the Director of Sales.

Page 6
(i) Changes in Compensation. The company reserves the right at any time and from time to time to change the manner in which commissions are calculated, the amount and types of bonuses, if any, and the amount of any draw or the advance on commissions, or caps on the amounts thereof which may outstanding at any time. Such changes shall apply to all sales transactions and\or stages or phases of a sale transaction occurring from and after the time such changes are announced by the company, but shall not apply to transactions from which you were the procuring cause, or for which you satisfied the requirements to achieve a stage or phase of the commission, prior to the announcement of such change(s). Such changes shall be reflected on a revised Addendum A to be signed by you and the company. Your failure to acknowledge such changes by signing a revised Addendum A shall constitute grounds for termination for cause, which impacts the amount of earned commissions as set forth in Section VI.

Page 15
XII. Miscellaneous
(a) Entire Agreement. This Employment Letter supersedes all prior agreements between the Company and you, and their are no collateral understandings, representations or agreements between the parties unless contained in a written instrument or instruments duly executed by both you and the Company. The Company is not responsible for nor bound by any statement or agreement related to compensation, community assignment, bonus compensation or any other aspect of this Employment Letter unless such statement is in writing and signed by the Director of Sales of Seller. You acknowledge by your signature below that you are not relying nor have relied upon any verbal representation or statement made by the Company, Seller of unless contained in this Employment Letter.


Is this not a commission policy change? If somebody here can interpret this is a legal change do you think she has a leg to stand on legally since they never required a signature from the employee and the director of sales like was mandated per the above contract verbage?

Thank you in advance!

[lexy1969]

I understand exactly where you are coming from. I am currently at odds with my boss over him harassing me about my sick time. He also proceeded to call me a liar to my face and also informed me that I have no friends here at work. It didnt stop there... he continued to falsely accuse me of things that didnt happen and things that supposebly happened on my own personal time, in shich I may add were all false accusations and what I consider not only harassment but defimation of character. I not only reported this conduct to my union Rep. but also to a higher up official in Albany. i am petrified of what the outcome may be of all of this but i can no longer sit back and be harassed, it litereally has made me sicker then what I already was. One of the big things with me is I love my job and this could get very ugly before it is all said and done. Let me also add that I work for the State of NY, NYSDEC. All I can say to you is be strong and the truth will prevail, it may not happen today or tomorrow but I am a firm beleiver of Karma and as they say what goes around comes around. Good luck and keep your chin up.