Home › Final paycheck letters › California › commission

Unpaid commissions in California: earned is earned

Earned commissions are wages and are due at separation like any other wage; a commission is earned when all conditions for entitlement are satisfied, even if the payment date falls later.

Employers usually argue the commission was not "earned" yet. The answer is in the plan's own words: if every condition the plan sets had been satisfied before you left, the timing clause moves the payment date, it does not erase the debt.

Statute
Cal. Lab. Code §§ 201, 202, 203; § 227.3 (vacation); § 200 (wages)
If fired
Wages earned and unpaid are due and payable immediately at the time of discharge (Cal. Lab. Code § 201).
If you resigned
If you gave at least 72 hours' notice, final pay is due at the time you quit (§ 201). If you gave less than 72 hours' notice, final pay is due within 72 hours (§ 202).
Late-pay penalty
Waiting time penalty under § 203: wages continue at your daily wage rate for each day payment is late, up to 30 calendar days. The daily rate is your total unpaid wages divided by the number of days worked in the final pay period.
PTO
Accrued, unused vacation is wages and must be paid at separation (Cal. Lab. Code § 227.3). Use-it-or-lose-it forfeiture without a vested cap is not enforceable.
Small claims limit
$12,500 for an individual
Last verified
2026-11-03 two sources agree

What to put in the file before you write anything

  1. The commission plan or comp letter, including every amendment, and the exact definition of when a commission is earned.
  2. Deal records showing the sale closed, the customer paid, or whatever condition the plan requires.
  3. A calculation of each commission claimed, with the deal, the rate and the date the condition was met.
  4. Any email where a manager confirmed the amount — the most persuasive document in most commission disputes.

What the letter does that a phone call cannot

A demand letter fixes three things at once: the amount, the date each item was due, and the date the employer was on notice. Every forum that can help you — the California Labor Commissioner's Office (DIR), a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is built from Cal. Lab. Code §§ 201, 202, 203; § 227.3 (vacation); § 200 (wages) and your own figures, so the deadline it states is the one that applies to your separation, not a generic thirty days.

If the amount fits inside $12,500, small claims court is usually faster than an agency queue; if it does not, the agency route and a demand first is the cheaper path.

Build the California letter — $9.99 Free: calculate my deadline

Questions

Are commissions wages in California?

Earned commissions are wages and are due at separation like any other wage; a commission is earned when all conditions for entitlement are satisfied, even if the payment date falls later.

My employer says commissions are paid only to current employees. Is that enforceable in California?

A clause that forfeits commissions already earned is the clause most often struck down when challenged. The employer can usually set the timing of payment; it is much harder for it to keep money the plan says you earned.

Other situations in California

being fired · resigning · a layoff · unused PTO · all California rules

Reviewed 2026-11-03 against the sources listed on the California page. This is a self-help document tool, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.