Legal Question in Employment Law in Arizona

Re: Verbal Contract

A verbal employment contract can be upheld in court, provided you can bring evidence to demonstrate the contract's existence. Evidence might include witnesses who could testify to the agreement, like the company bookkeeper or another employee, or paperwork that demonstrated how past commissions have been handled.

However, before you take this to court (which will be expensive and possibly take a year or more), it seems to me that both you and your buddy have some interest in working this out peacefully. We know your interest is in being treated fairly on this particular commission, but it also sounds like you otherwise like your job. His short term interest may be to "hijack" the commission, but his long term interest is probably to keep you employed. It sounds like you are very helpful to him, and he benefits from your employment.

If you proceed with a normal adversarial legal action, your working relationship may deteriorate, and you may end up quitting or being fired. In a case like this, you may prefer to take him out of the office for coffee, and just talk to him about the situation. See whether you can work out something you can both live with.

If that isn't successful, you may wish to ask him to go to mediation with you, where a neutral third person will lead you through a problem-solving process. Mediation is a very successful way of getting to a solution short of court.

I am an attorney-mediator, and if you'd like more information about mediation, please feel free to check my web site, www.yesmediation.com, or e-mail me. If you decide a legal action is the only way, consider going to justice court, where you can file your own action cheaply and represent yourself. Justice court can take claims under $10,000. If the amount is more than that, you'll probably need a litigator. If so, let me know, and I will make a referral for you.

Good luck in this tough situation.