CadenceCombat

Account Executive

Termination / layoff to avoid commission payout

Following up on the heartbreaking post from @atx22

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience and/or success taking legal action against an employer that is looking to terminate employment to avoid paying commissions on a huge deal.

Alternatively, has anyone been subject to a windfall clause in their employment contract? Were you able to navigate it or did you just have to take it on the chin?

For all the external challenges that need to be navigated to get a win, I'm in awe of the internal fuckery some orgs shamelessy commit to cheat their own reps.

Would love to hear at least one account of a company failing to attempt to cheat their rep.

https://bravado.co/war-room/posts/working-8-figure-deal-concerned-may-get-let-go-before-signature

🍾 Commission

😤 Conflict Resolution

15 comments

Sort by:

GingerBarbarian

Opinionated

Lead Sales

If anyone is having an issue with commission I point them to Dan Goodman from TruCommish. He specializes in making sure reps are getting everything they are supposed to

GDO

Politicker

BDM

saw this a few times as well

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

First off - can it proven that the lay off is directly due to commission payment avoidance? This is a biggie. Any lawyer will tell you so.

Second, was the layoff 100% due to external-to-the-employee factors? No negligence, performance issues, etc? Many times there's a clause in an employment contract which lets a company fire you and then not have to pay you.

Finally, if there is not smoking gun directly related to the company laying off someone JUST to avoid the commission payment, the best thing to do would be to go get an employment lawyer and have them write a "lawyer letter" saying that if the commission isn't paid promptly then a lawsuit is on its way.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

I guess this is my point.

Maybe I’m just getting bitter but where is the upside we keep getting promised as sales savages?

Hitting quota = product sells itself + quota increase
missing quota = you’re a shit sales person
Economic / financial trouble = first to get laid off
win a huge deal = get cheated out of it

I know this isn’t the case across the board but there’s a disproportionately large shit sandwich that comes with the job in a lot of cases.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

It happens and it sucks. 99% of us just want to sell and make big $$. But the powers that be don’t want that. They want us to sell but not make the big $$. Lots of paycheck envy out there.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Internal fuckery is now added to my daily vocabulary. Thank you.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Yes, I've been subject to a big deal clause leveraged on me. In my case, it primarily used to make sure that I wasn't compensated for the comp plan they mistakenly gave me (long story I've told elsewhere).

Did I get the amount I should have gotten based on the comp plan? No. But I did have an EVP go to bat for me and negotiate something that was more than fair under the circumstances.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Although not the slam dunk you may have hoped for, good to hear that a reasonable compromise was reached.

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

There was a method. There is something interesting at some companies where people who make over a certain threshold are given higher levels of scrutiny the following year (performance, etc) and one of the factors for the payout amount I was offered was keeping me just below that level. As the EVP told me, you don't want to really be above the line. That dude really looked out for me in that situation, for which I am grateful.

atx22

Catalyst

Enterprise Account Executive

Happy to help in any way. Living through that disaster was extremely eye opening. I'd also recommend reaching out to Dan Goodman for help or even messaging Richard Harris.

There are good organizations and people out there. As sales reps we take on a lot of risk. Sometimes we end on the wrong side of the short stick.

The good side is having customers that are friends because you have been able to help deliver for them in the past. My word and reputation is more important than my bank account.

CadenceCombat

Tycoon

Account Executive

Thanks for sharing your story. In my opinion, its posts like yours that really add value to the War Room. ✊

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

It is very common in trading, where people have good years but the bank doesn’t. It all depends on how the contract is written.

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

That's why everyone before joining a company needs to verify if it has any relevant old incidents or history with any of the old employees to consider proceeding for a next step or not.

And try to make sure that the contract terms are clear enough when regulating the layoff section that no matter what you are to claim your commission bonus for any sales activity till your last business day by disregarding the leaving or the layoff reason!

It happened once before at my ex company but it wasn't the sales bonus but the annual appraisal increase by getting laid off few weeks or even days before the end of the fiscal year, it's not be added to your final payout while leaving by disregarding the previous 11 mo you already stayed with the company!!

quotascammedeverytime

Opinionated

account executive

sounds like another case of getting #quotascammed

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

CadenceCombat

Termination / layoff to avoid commission payout

15 comments

Related posts

Commission Payout After Resigning

Commission payout

Suing for owed commission