Home › Final paycheck letters › Idaho › commission

Unpaid commissions in Idaho: earned is earned

Commissions earned before separation are wages under § 45-606 and follow the same 10-day deadline, with the same 48-hour acceleration on written request.

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
Idaho Code § 45-606
If fired
On termination by either the employer or the employee, wages must be paid or made available at the usual place of payment by the earlier of the next regularly scheduled payday or 10 days after the separation, excluding weekends and holidays (Idaho Code § 45-606(1)).
If you resigned
Resignation is covered by the same rule: earlier of the next regularly scheduled payday or 10 days. A written request for earlier payment shortens the deadline to 48 hours.
Late-pay penalty
Idaho Code § 45-606 sets the deadline but attaches no liquidated-damages multiple to a late final paycheck. What the statute does give you is leverage: once the employee makes a written request for earlier payment, the wages must be paid within 48 hours, weekends and holidays excluded — and this letter is that request.
PTO
Idaho does not require payout of accrued vacation unless the employer's written policy or an agreement provides for it.
Small claims limit
$5,000 for an individual
Last verified
2026-11-03 single source

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 Idaho Department of Labor, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is built from Idaho Code § 45-606 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 $5,000, 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 Idaho letter — $9.99 Free: calculate my deadline

Questions

Are commissions wages in Idaho?

Commissions earned before separation are wages under § 45-606 and follow the same 10-day deadline, with the same 48-hour acceleration on written request.

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

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 Idaho

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

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