Claim for unpaid commission due to employer misleading conduct on redundancy

[rushrush]

Hi Forum members,

I worked as a sales manager and my compensation includes the sales commission, which is only payable to me when the service work is completed for the client and invoice is sent.

Despite my outstanding sales performance (I was able to achieve 200% of sales target given last year), this Jan my boss urged me to take a new role that actually was a demotion. My boss, after hearing my concern, promised to create a new role for me. To my surprise, I was being terminated due the reason of redundancy of current position instead.

Now I'm submitting claims to the labour court for the unpaid commission that I should be eligible for if I still work in the company (as the service work will be done in the forthcoming months). This is to me a significant amount, far higher than the redundancy fee. I suspect that my company fired me to avoid paying the high commission fee.

Based on the contract, this type of commission would not be given after separation. So breach of contract cannot be my argument point.

I wonder if I can argue on the ground for misleading conduct - that is, the company intentionally did not disclose that my current position was already made redundant and if I did not take the demoted role, I would be terminated.

My question: how is the chance for me to win at the Labour court if I argue that my company is dishonest and mislead me to take the wrong decision on not to take the demoted role. And the damage I suffer is worth of the amount of unpaid commission. If this argument is not valid, what other arguments can I make?

I am looking for advice on similar cases because the first hearing will be due next couple of days.

Thanks so much.

I'm not a solicitor, but it sounds like constructive dismissal to me. Di you have legal representation? If not I think you should get some.

I don't know where in the country you are, but if it's near Bristol try a man called Jeffrey shaw. He's particularly good at these cases. He won a case for my mum.

Get some legal advice as soon as you can - employment law is complex and every case is different so you'll have a hard time figuring out the best strategy on your own. Most solicitor firms in this area will offer you a 15-30 minute free consultation on the phone and an initial consultation is usually charged at a flat rate e.g. £200.

Sorry, the initial formal consultation i.e. when you first engage them is usually charged at a flat rate.

Thanks. I just received the defense from my employer.

They reckon that in HK as well as the employer pay the notice and severance for redundancy, there is no point for the employee to claim damage as a result of losing the commission.

They also quote some case where Hong Kong court held that any express contracts should override implied one. This is what they call anti-avoidance.

I am feeling a bit helpless here because I see so many cases around the world that the employee are losing this kind of case because employers always have an upper hand - that is to ask the employee to sign the compensation plan in advance, then use "redundancy" as a reason for termination. And they are also proud to say that they comply with all local employment and contract ordinance.