In yesterday’s Daily, we covered many of California’s quirky payday rules. Today, more rules, including commission payments, and an introduction to an extraordinary solution to compensation challenges.
Employee Doesn’t Submit a Timecard? Still Must Pay
If an employee doesn’t submit a timecard on time, you still have an obligation to pay you on the established payday. There is no exception in the law that allows for waiting until the next payday, or even until the timecard is turned in. You can comply with the law by paying all of the wages that you reasonably know are due for the regularly scheduled work period.
Terminating at the Time an Employee Gives Notice
Sometimes, rather than letting an employee work out his or her notice time, the employer may choose to terminate the person immediately. In this situation, the employee is not entitled to any wages for the notice period because the employee did not perform any work during that period. In effect, for the purpose of wage payments, you changed a quit into a discharge, and all earned wages become due and payable immediately at the time of termination.
Employee’s Right to See Payroll Records
Payroll records must be made available to employees upon reasonable request, soon as practicable, but no later than 21 calendar days from the date of the request. A failure by the employer to permit a current or former employee to inspect or copy his or her payroll records within the 21 day period entitles the current or former employee to recover a $750.00 penalty from the employer in a civil action brought before a court of competent jurisdiction.
Commissions Owed at Discharge
In the event the commissions have been “earned” on or before the date of termination, the employer must complete the necessary calculations and pay the commissions on the date of the termination in the case of a discharge or a voluntary quit with more than 72 hours prior notice, or within 72 hours of the termination of the employment relationship in the case of a voluntary quit without such prior notice.
It is not permissible for the employer to wait until the customary time for calculating the commissions of current employees, nor is it permissible to delay payment of such earned commissions until the next regularly scheduled payday.
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If the commission has not yet been earned at the time of termination and is awaiting the completion of some legal condition precedent, for example, receipt of the customer’s payment, the commission must be paid immediately upon completion of the condition precedent.
Note: the issue of commissions at discharge or quit is one that causes many problems. Avoid this by clarifying how you will handle these situations in your commission policies and agreements with commissioned sales people.
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