Legal Question in Employment Law in California
I was recently terminated from position as an outside sales rep for yellow pages. Reason was not meeting sales goals. my sales goal was an inflated number that was based on revenue dollars from bad or cancelled accounts and my manager knew this. Also the company let go the office assistant who is in charge of sending our paperwork and other administrative duties and told us we had to do this now as well as collect money from accounts, this sometimes took up an entire day of hounding clients. We also had to do our own copyright for internet products we sold and this took an extremely long time. I worked 12-15 hour days 6 days a week. One more thing they fired me when I was called in for jury duty. Now they will not pay me commisions for accounts that i sold. my sales were well in line with others in the office and up from last year. is this all legal?
1 Answer from Attorneys
There is no law that requires employers to be fair. This is particularly evident in sales jobs where sales people believe their goals are inflated or unreasonable. They may be, but that is the nature of the business in many industries. Unless you can prove the employer targeted you for an unlawful reason or breached the terms of an employment contract, it can set any terms and conditions it deems necessary and terminate employment at its will.
If you were fired for being called for jury duty, that is illegal. An attorney will have to review the evidence you have to evaluate any potential claim.
Another issue may involve whether you were an exempt outside sales person for overtime purposes. If you spent more than half your time performing non-sales related activities, the company may have lost the ability to classify you as exempt and have to pay you for overtime.
Whether they must pay you for commissions sold depends on the language in the commission agreement, which would have to be reviewed for an opinion. If there is no contract and you have done everything necessary to complete the sale and earn the commission, you may have a good argument you are entitled to the commission.
You should consult with an experienced employment law attorney in your area for a more informed legal opinion.
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