JohnnyWhoops
New Member
I headed sales for a small IT firm for the last 2.5 years up until 2 weeks ago. I accepted the job based on an employment offer that was revised a few times, but always was satisfactory to me. Two point on the offer that are important here are "after 6 months, upon termination the employee is granted 2 weeks severence and paid all future commissions owed". I was told the CEO's lawyer was to write up a formal employment contract and I'd have it within 3 days. I quit my other job, went on-board with this company and begain working. Needless to say, I didn't see the contract until about 2 weeks AFTER I left my other job and put 2 weeks of work in to this one. The terms were different and in the fcase of the statement above, it now read "employee will be paid 2 weeks severence and all commissions owed". I had left my previous job and was being paid at this new one, and was almost obligated to sign this contract. The contract also stipulated I was not allowed to start my own business will employed and of course, there was a non-compete clause. About a year ago, I got the entreprenuerial itch and formed an LLC with an associate. We became licensed home contractors and we were working on the weekends and evenings, although we were taking everytihng serious and had big plans from the start. Things took off nicely, and about 6 months ago I went to my boss and told him I needed flexibility. He was all for it. I told him I was doing home improvement on the side and that I wanted Wednesday through Friday to myself. He was all smiles. I was required to be on for him Monday and Tuesday. At that point, my focus was certainly in building my own business and saying goodbye to him ASAP. However, I did my job and stayed true to my clients. My performance did slip the last 3 months (self-sabotage) as I knew my sales cycle was about 6 months long and I didn't want to kill myself netting sales I'll never be paid on. He had commented on my sales slip, but we kept on with the relationship. Now, just 2 weeks ago he pulled me in and confronted me. He told me he wanted me back full-time. I told him I work part-time on my own now, and i just couldn't come back FT. He said he'd have to let me go then. No problem.. I told him I assume he'll pay me any/all outstanding commissions and I wanted to get his definition on what exactly "future commsiions" are. I mean, are they the commissions moving forward from the open-ended contracts I pulled in in which our clients paid us a retainer monthly for services performed? I assumed not, but at least something in the middle. What about the $180K contract I pulled in, signed sealed and delivered for a software build that is still in the works? We're being paid in fractions as the work has been completed. Anyway, he told me his lawyer would make sense of it all and they'd get back to me on it. He also said whatever the lawyer came up with, he'd give me a bit more probably. After waiting over a week, I got a letter from my former employer clearly written by his lawyer stating they were giving me NOTHING. No severence, not once dime of commissions (even on invoices already paid), no outstanding expenses I've already paid for, NOTHING. He claims I breached the contrract by forming my own LLCs and that I worked on my own stuff on his time and with his resources.....totally unfounded and bold on his part. I am fuming, to say the least! He is squatting on my hard-earned money. How does this look???????
