Austin Breach of Contract Lawyers

Seeking Justice for Unpaid Commissions

One of the most common ways that employers try to subtly breach employment contracts is by freezing or minimizing commissions paid to eligible employees. Sales managers and representatives from various companies and in all types of industries rely on commissions as a controllable part of their income. When commissions go unpaid, it not only breaches important contracts, but it also takes food off the plates of honest workers.

Whether you are a sales representative for a car lot, appliance store, electronics outlet, or any other business that usually offers sales commissions, we can help you seek justice and compensation if your employer has shorted your hard-earned pay. Depending on the details of your claim, we may be able to secure compensation on your behalf that pays for your missing compensation and additional damages, such as noneconomic damages related to the undue hardship you experienced. Some courts may even award punitive damages that provide further compensation to you as a means of penalizing your employer for egregious and willful wrongdoing.

Other Types of Contract Breaches

Trying to sneak unpaid commissions under the noses of sales employees is not the only way that some dishonest employers will breach a contract to try to save their company’s bottom line. With our extensive experience taking on complex litigation cases – usually through referrals from other law firms that do not have the bandwidth to manage themselves – Briggle & Polan, PLLC stands ready to help identify how your employer may have breached an important employment contract.

Two common ways contracts are unfairly breached are:

• Reduced pay: Within your employment contract, you may be promised a specific starting wage or salary for your work. If you are ever paid less than that amount, then it is a contract breach. Even pay amounts reduced by only a few cents a pay period are serious issues, as it could be that other coworkers are also being paid less, adding up to significant sums taking out of the hands of workers.
• Removed benefits: Most employees sign an employment contract after being offered both good pay and advantageous benefits, like healthcare insurance or stock options. An employer who reneges on promised benefits is violating or breaching their own employment contracts.
• Misclassification: In recent years, more and more companies have been brought to the headlines for misclassifying employees as independent contractors. You should take a moment to think about what you do for your employer if you are classified as an independent contractor because it might be that you better fit the role of an employee, who usually gets more benefits.