Changes to Commissions

[mrpoorman]

So I work for a large car dealership selling for a prestige brand. The brand gives its direct employees a rather large discount of which the dealer has to contribute half of. My dealership is based near to the brands factories and so we get a lot of their employees coming in. Previously these were treated as normal sales, they counted toward targes and normal commissions were paid.

My employer advised us (verbally) back in July that from now on, these would not be counted and that they were putting together a team to deal with these. Obviously, cars already sold would still be paid on etc. Today they have said that the employee deals delivered this month (our lead time from order is typically around 3 months) will not count towards our targets for September and so many of us have missed this months target as a result. Previous changes to commission structures had been advised by email.

The new team dealing with these sales are paid a lot less than the rest of us, lower salary plus greatly reduced commission rates.

My employment contract states the following:

"Statement of Main Terms of Employment

Any changes or amendments to these terms will be confirmed in writing within one month of them ocurring"

"Pay

In addition, you may be eligible for a commission/bonus payment based on achieving performance targets; further details will be notified to you separately. The Company reserves the right to change or withdraw this payment at any time by giving 1 months prior notification. In order to receive commission/bonus payments due, you must still be in employment at the date of payment and not working through a notice period or be away from the Company due to sickness (other than as a result of disability or pregnancy)."

So do I have any recourse here? This sudden change lowers my commission for september by around £2000.

[Viking1985]

Re: Changes to Commissions

So I work for a large car dealership selling for a prestige brand.

My employer advised us (verbally) back in July...

Any changes or amendments to these terms will be confirmed in writing within one month of them ocurring"..
The Company reserves the right to change or withdraw this payment at any time by giving 1 months prior notification... This sudden change lowers my commission for september by around £2000.

Hi,

So, you sell cars and get commissions, the deal is the firm can "change or withdraw": they have done.

Two points;

1. Have they fulfilled their technical duties to give appropriate notice and "confirm in writing"? If not you have the choice of pushing back at this. Grievance etc.

2. A judge may still not feel the contract term is "unreasonable" and, if you choose to go to law you might win. There are cases where the employees is in a massively weaker position re legal advice, ability to negotiate or even understand the contracts they sign.

If you feel badly done by you could take your skills to another employer, leaving your present firm grieving about the loss of a high-performing team-member OR raise a formal grievance.

The best advice I can give here is if you are taking this further pay for professional advice NOW. "Working on" can signal acceptance of the change: making waves by raising a grievance can shatter the working relationship.

Viking