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Unpaid commissions in Texas: earned is earned
Bonuses and commission-based wages are due in the timely manner set by the agreement between you and the employer; if the plan sets a payment date, that date controls.
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
- Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014 (Texas Payday Law)
- If fired
- Final pay is due within six (6) calendar days of the last day of work (Texas Payday Law, Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014). If the sixth day falls on a day the business is normally closed, payment is due the next regular workday.
- If you resigned
- If you quit or resign, final pay is due on the next regularly scheduled payday after your last day. If you gave notice, the employer may end your employment immediately and does not owe wages for the notice period.
- Late-pay penalty
- The Texas Payday Law does not add a waiting-time penalty that is payable to the employee. The remedy is a wage claim filed with the Texas Workforce Commission, which can order the employer to pay the wages found due and can penalise the employer administratively.
- PTO
- Unused vacation, holiday, sick leave and severance are owed only if the employer's written policy or agreement provides for them (TWC guidance).
- Small claims limit
- $20,000 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 Texas Workforce Commission — Labor Law Section, a small claims judge — starts from those three facts. The letter is
built from Tex. Lab. Code § 61.014 (Texas Payday Law) 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 $20,000, 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 Texas?
Bonuses and commission-based wages are due in the timely manner set by the agreement between you and the employer; if the plan sets a payment date, that date controls.
My employer says commissions are paid only to current employees. Is that enforceable in Texas?
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 Texas
being fired · resigning · a layoff · unused PTO · all Texas rules
Reviewed 2026-11-03 against the sources listed on the Texas page.
This is a self-help document tool, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed.