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Unpaid commissions in North Carolina: earned is earned
Commissions owed under the employment agreement are wages; the written plan controls when they are earned, and the Act requires payment of earned amounts by the next regular payday.
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
- N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.7 (Wage and Hour Act)
- If fired
- All wages due must be paid on or before the next regular payday, through the regular pay channels or by trackable mail if the employee asks in writing (N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.7). North Carolina sets no shorter deadline for a discharge.
- If you resigned
- Resignation follows the same rule: everything due is payable on or before the next regular payday, and the employee may request trackable mail in writing.
- Late-pay penalty
- North Carolina's Wage and Hour Act does not provide liquidated damages or a waiting-time penalty payable to the employee for a late final paycheck. The Retail Workers' Bill of Rights adds a private action for some employers, but the standard remedy is the unpaid wages plus the Department of Labor's investigation.
- PTO
- North Carolina does not require payout of unused vacation unless the employer's written policy promises it.
- Small claims limit
- $10,000 for an individual
- Last verified
- 2026-11-03 two sources agree
What to put in the file before you write anything
- The commission plan or comp letter, including every amendment, and the exact definition of when a commission is earned.
- Deal records showing the sale closed, the customer paid, or whatever condition the plan requires.
- A calculation of each commission claimed, with the deal, the rate and the date the condition was met.
- 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 North Carolina Department of Labor — Wage and Hour Bureau, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is
built from N.C. Gen. Stat. § 95-25.7 (Wage and Hour Act) 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 $10,000, 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.
Questions
Are commissions wages in North Carolina?
Commissions owed under the employment agreement are wages; the written plan controls when they are earned, and the Act requires payment of earned amounts by the next regular payday.
My employer says commissions are paid only to current employees. Is that enforceable in North Carolina?
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 North Carolina
being fired · resigning · a layoff · unused PTO · all North Carolina rules
Reviewed 2026-11-03 against the sources listed on the North Carolina page.
This is a self-help document tool, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.