Full-time salaried employment changed to commission only

by B
(New York, NY)

I have been employed by a privately held employer since March 8 in a salaried position (no commission). One month ago, on Sept. 2, a payday, I went to the business owner for my paycheck. I was told, at that time, that I was not receiving a paycheck for that period and that my pay, because of hardships in the business, was being changed to commission-only. To date, I have received only $100 in cash against $24,000 in sales, for which I provided project management, production labor, and customer service.

Can I file for unemployment based on this substantial change in employment conditions?





If you're no longer employed you can file, but you cannot file if you are working a full work week and only getting paid less than minimum wage .. which by the way is against the law.

The conditions of your employment though have been changed and changed substantially.

And now .. after one month of giving it enough time to see if it would work out for you .. you now have proof as to how substantial of a change it was.

If you wait too much longer .. it will look as if you have accepted the new conditions of employment of being a commission only employee.

One more thing .. if your employer decided to not pay you as agreed upon at the time of hire and retroactively so for a period of time you were unaware of the changes to the terms of employment .. don't you think you should file a wage complaint for what was unpaid?

As for your decision about continuing in this employment and the prospect of being found eligible for UI benefits should you decline this oh so generous exchange for your hard work .. see the NY index to see if you might have good cause to quit.