Your Questions, Answered

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Under Minnesota law, if you earned your commissions, then you can potentially bring a lawsuit to recover them. But before you bring a lawsuit, there are two important things to consider.

First, Minnesota law requires that you make a written demand for your unpaid commissions. The demand doesn't need to be in any particular format, and you don't need to say exactly how much money you think you're owed. But it can be helpful to make your written demand in a way that shows who you sent it to and when that person received it, like with an email or text message.

Second, if you bring a claim under Minnesota pay laws, you must show that you "earned" the commissions. In many disputes about commissions, the employer argues that commissions aren't earned, so it doesn't have a legal obligation to pay them. For more details, see below ("How do I show that I earned my commissions?").

Other circumstances can impact your legal options. If you think your employer terminated you as retaliation for bringing up commission issues, or if you think you were terminated so that your employer could avoid paying you commissions, you may have other types of legal claims. 

Under Minnesota law, there's no straightforward answer to this question, as it can vary from employer to employer. Many different factors can impact how and when commissions are legally "earned."

The typical practice, for many types of businesses, is that commissions are considered "earned" when the buyer pays for the goods or services. But that's not always the case.

Sometimes legal documents are important. You may have a commission sales agreement or other employment contracts with terms that discuss commissions. Or your employer may have policies or other guidelines on how it calculates and pays commissions. These types of agreements and policies can provide important information about how and when commissions are earned.

Another important consideration is how your employer handled commissions in the past. If your employer regularly followed the same practices after a sale, paying you commissions at a certain time or at a certain rate, those practices may help establish how and when commissions are earned.

When assessing whether commissions are "earned," both legal documentation and past practice can be important. For that reason, it's usually a good idea to keep good records about your commissions. But there can also be legal limits on how you save and keep such records. If you have concerns about your commissions and you're not sure whether they're "earned" under Minnesota law, a qualified attorney may be able to help.

If you were fired after bringing up a commission dispute with your employer, then under Minnesota law, you may have additional legal protections. For instance, if you think your employer terminated you as retaliation for bringing up commission issues, or if you think you were terminated so that your employer could avoid paying you commissions, those situations can affect your rights. Under these circumstances, a qualified attorney may be able to help you hold your employer accountable.

Under Minnesota law, it can be difficult to bring a lawsuit for unpaid bonuses. The reason is that, under most contracts and bonus or incentive pay plans, the employer has discretion whether or not to pay bonus. 

As a result, under most circumstances, employees do not have a legally enforceable right to be paid a bonus. But there are exceptions, which are more likely for high-level employees with specialized bonus agreements or contractual bonus terms.