re: Lawyers of the OT: is my former company screwing me?

yes that is right, if you quit you get nothing. if you get laid off or even fired they still owe it to you but not if you quit.

it sucks but any bonus, commission, or vacation days owed to you go away the minute you quit.

last job i quit they tried to screw me over and not pay me my 2 weeks vacation after i told them im taking my vacation pay instead of the time off and then im giving my 2 weeks notice now. i was able to get it only because the owner was very happy with me and wanted me to come back to work, he even called me a few times over the next 3 months asking me back with a raise

quote:

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I’m in sales and they won’t pay for anything after you leave. If I ever leave where I’m at I will accept another job tell them I can’t start for a month if possible so I get all my commissions.

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This is my experience from every tech company I've worked. As an individual contributor I've left commissions on the table. When building out and running sales orgs I'd always have reps/managers and even directors occaisionally want to negotiate a signing bonus to mitigate some of the lost commissions in order to leave their company.

Those details are always found in your compensation plan but in my case the commissions language was always favorable to the company, not the employee if you leave.

Summary of the law from a court decision about unpaid commissions.

Upon discharge of any laborer or other employee of any kind whatever, the employer is required to pay “the amount then due under the terms of employment,” no later than 15 days after discharge. La. R.S. 23:631 A(1). Failure to comply with this provision subjects the employer to a penalty wage of 90 days' wages or full wages from date of demand until payment, whichever is less. La. R.S. 23:632 A. However, if the court finds that the employer disputed the amount of wages in good faith, the employer is liable only for the amount of wages in dispute plus judicial interest from **16 date of judicial demand. La. R.S. 23:632 B. Reasonable attorney fees are to be awarded for any well-founded suit for unpaid wages filed by the employee after three days from first demand for payment. La. R.S. 23:632 C. The main purpose of these provisions is to compel an employer to pay the earned wages of an employee promptly after his dismissal or resignation; the employer cannot rely on unlawful company policy as a good-faith defense to § 632.

Generally, when sale commissions are at issue, the inquiry of whether a wage was actually earned focuses on what work associated with the sale remained at the time of the employee's discharge. Schuyten v. Superior Sys. Inc., 2005-2358 (La. App. 1 Cir. 12/28/06), 952 So.2d 98, and citations therein. Where only collection of the fee is outstanding and collection is beyond the control of the employee, the employee has earned his commission for purposes of the Payment of Employees law; however, if a substantial amount of time and effort are needed to complete a sale, then the right to a commission may not have been earned. Id.

U.L. Coleman Co., Ltd. v. Gosslee, 51,396 (La. App. 2 Cir. 11/3/17), 244 So. 3d 783, 794