Matthew L. Berman
Class actions · Employment · Civil rights
(516) 203-7180

New York Sales Commissions Law

The cases, in full

Every decision cited in this guide, with its complete citation and the full text of the opinion. Each one has a free PDF marked with the page numbers of the official reporter, so you can quote a passage and cite the page the way a court does.

Court opinions are in the public domain. The text comes from the official New York Law Reporting Bureau, from govinfo.gov, or from another free public source, named on every page. Page markers were added; nothing else was changed.

When a commission is earned

  • Pachter v. Bernard Hodes Group, Inc.

    10 N.Y.3d 609 · June 10, 2008

    This is the starting point for every New York commission dispute. Note what it does not say: it does not say you need a written plan. "The lack of a specific written contract is not determinative."

Commissions after you leave

  • Arbeeny v. Kennedy Executive Search, Inc.

    71 A.D.3d 177 · January 14, 2010

    This is the leading New York case for a salesperson whose earned commissions were cut off by a termination or by a continued-employment clause.

  • Devany v. Brockway Development, LLC

    72 A.D.3d 1008 · April 27, 2010

    Read the two halves together. Work you completed before leaving is yours; business that had not been sold yet depends on the agreement.

  • Yudell v. Ann Israel & Associates, Inc.

    248 A.D.2d 189 · March 12, 1998

    Useful where the company's records name you as the rep who originated or booked the deal.

  • Linder v. Innovative Commercial Systems LLC

    127 A.D.3d 670 · April 30, 2015

    The facts did the work here: regular statements and a consistent practice. Where a company withheld the plan, never sent statements, or applied its rule inconsistently, the analysis looks different.

  • Wakefield v. Northern Telecom, Inc.

    769 F.2d 109 (2d Cir. 1985) · August 5, 1985

    The theory is available, but it is narrow: the question is whether the firing was substantially motivated by the commissions coming due.

Continued-employment clauses

  • Zia-Ul-Haq v. Honda of Staten Island

    40 Misc. 3d 139(A) · August 21, 2013

    The plan language here is close to what many employers still use. The decision is from the Appellate Term in a small-claims case, so it is persuasive rather than binding, but it shows how such a clause fares.

Chargebacks and deductions

  • Gennes v. Yellow Book of New York, Inc.

    23 A.D.3d 520 · November 21, 2005

    The clearest New York appellate statement that the risk of a lost or unrenewed account belongs to the employer, not the salesperson.

Chargebacks, minimum wage and overtime

  • Karic v. Major Automotive Companies, Inc.

    992 F. Supp. 2d 196 (E.D.N.Y. 2014) · April 16, 2014

    The most useful single decision for commissioned retail and dealership salespeople: the weekly minimum-wage rule, the chargeback rule, and personal liability for the owners, all in one place.

Chargebacks and plan design

  • Cohan v. Medline Industries, Inc.

    843 F.3d 660 (7th Cir. 2016) · December 9, 2016

    This is the decision an employer will cite. It shows why the plan's definition of "earned" matters, and why the fight is usually about when the commission was earned rather than whether a deduction was allowed.

Draws and advances

  • Levy v. Verizon Information Services, Inc.

    498 F. Supp. 2d 586 (E.D.N.Y. 2007) · July 25, 2007

    The leading case employers cite on recoverable draws. It was decided before New York's 2012 amendment to section 193 and the 2014 regulations that now define an "advance" and require written, signed repayment terms.

No forfeiture of earned wages

  • Weiner v. Diebold Group, Inc.

    173 A.D.2d 166 · May 2, 1991

    The case behind the rule that a plan cannot forfeit earned commissions no matter what it says.

What counts as a wage

  • Truelove v. Northeast Capital & Advisory, Inc.

    95 N.Y.2d 220 · October 17, 2000

    Employers sometimes relabel commission pay as a "discretionary bonus." The label does not control. What matters is whether the pay is tied to your own sales under a set formula.

Employee or independent contractor

  • Bynog v. Cipriani Group, Inc.

    1 N.Y.3d 193 · December 2, 2003

    Cite it for the test, not the result. For most salespeople the factors point the other way: set territories and quotas, required CRM use, company-set pricing, and no freedom to sell for anyone else.

Employee or independent contractor (federal)

  • Brock v. Superior Care, Inc.

    840 F.2d 1054 (2d Cir. 1988) · February 16, 1988

    The federal and New York tests are different, so a salesperson can be an employee under one law and not the other.

Non-competes and forfeiture

Freelancers

Wage notices and pay statements

  • Guthrie v. Rainbow Fencing Inc.

    113 F.4th 300 (2d Cir. 2024) · August 30, 2024

    State courts do not apply this federal requirement, so where a case is filed can decide whether these claims survive.

Owner liability