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Unpaid commissions in Pennsylvania: earned is earned
Commissions and bonuses that are earned are compensation under the WPCL; withholding them at separation is a wage-payment violation unless a written plan says otherwise.
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
- 43 P.S. § 260.5 (Wage Payment and Collection Law); § 260.10 (liquidated damages)
- If fired
- Whether you were fired, laid off or you quit, all wages earned become due and payable no later than the employer's next regular payday on which those wages would otherwise have been paid (43 P.S. § 260.5). If you ask, the employer must send the final payment by certified mail.
- If you resigned
- Resignation follows the same rule: everything earned is due by the next regular payday. The statute deliberately gives you no shorter deadline, but it also forbids the employer from holding pay to force return of equipment.
- Late-pay penalty
- 43 P.S. § 260.10: if wages are still unpaid 30 days after the regular payday and there is no good-faith dispute, the employee may recover liquidated damages of 25% of the unpaid wages or $500, whichever is greater, plus a court-awarded attorney's fee.
- PTO
- Pennsylvania does not treat unused vacation as wages that must be paid at separation unless the employer's written policy or contract creates that obligation.
- Small claims limit
- $12,000 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 Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry — Bureau of Labor Law Compliance, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is
built from 43 P.S. § 260.5 (Wage Payment and Collection Law); § 260.10 (liquidated damages) 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 $12,000, 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 Pennsylvania?
Commissions and bonuses that are earned are compensation under the WPCL; withholding them at separation is a wage-payment violation unless a written plan says otherwise.
My employer says commissions are paid only to current employees. Is that enforceable in Pennsylvania?
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 Pennsylvania
being fired · resigning · a layoff · unused PTO · all Pennsylvania rules
Reviewed 2026-11-03 against the sources listed on the Pennsylvania page.
This is a self-help document tool, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.