M
mklein3
Guest
I was terminated from my employment as a bank teller in Minnesota. I was terminated for reversing a small fee on my personal account. This was a “conflict of interest” and the higher ups were forced to let me go. I have received my last paycheck, but I never received my commission/incentive check for the last quarter that I worked. The check was referred to within the company as an incentive check, but it was commissions for making sales. A sale was earned when we got a customer to open a new account or apply for a credit card. These sales were an important part of our job and we were all aware that if our sales didn’t make a certain quota, we would be terminated. Thus, this “incentive” check was really a commission check that was factored into our employment. Furthermore, when I was hired it was used as part of my regular pay like a waitress makes tips. For example, I only make this small wage, but I’ll receive a quarterly check that makes up for it. Anyway, I called HR to track down this check and they said it was something that had to be taken up with my former manager. My former manager’s job was in jeopardy as our branch, as a whole, was doing poorly in sales and this was a reflection on her managerial skills. It is my belief that she was angry with me when I was let go as I was, by far, the best salesman in the branch and among the top half dozen in the entire city. My termination could easily have cost her job. That being said, when I turned to her for help on my commission check, I received virtually no help at all. I made several calls over a month and left numerous messages and I was never called back. Feeling I was getting nowhere, I turned to the Dept. of Labor & Industry and found that I needed to make a formal request for payment by certified mail. Upon receipt of this letter, the company has 24 hrs to comply or I am eligible for damages totaling the equivalent of one day’s pay for each day they are late up to 15 days. I sent the letter and, once again, received no response. The 15 days passed and I sent a second letter demanding payment or I will make this a legal matter. To this letter, I received a call from my former manager saying I was not eligible for this money because I was terminated. I called human resources and they say there is no such company wide policy and this would not be in my employee handbook. They said the manager has to forward the sales records to them and then a check is cut so the manager is the one who is making this decision not a company policy. Does the company have a case? I would like to take them to conciliations court, but I don’t want to waste my time and my money doing that if this is obviously something they can do and I’ll lose. It seems to me that if this was such an obvious company policy it wouldn’t take 5 ½ months before somebody told me. I’ve certainly never received anything in writing saying I was not eligible or warning me that termination would void this. I also understand that if I were to sue, they could counter sue for the fees I reversed on my personal account that led to my termination, but these fees are small in relation to the commission check and the potential damages for the 15 days late. Furthermore, it is my understanding that if I win in conciliations court, I’m eligible for damages in a civil court.