Zuckerman v. GW Acquisition LLC
No. 20-CV-8742 (VEC), 2021 WL 4267815 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 20, 2021)
United States District Court, Southern District of New York · September 20, 2021
What the court decided
On a motion to dismiss, the court allowed claims that commissions were paid late under Labor Law 191(1)(c). Reading the statute's proviso for "substantial" pay, it held that commissions agreed to be paid semiannually could be paid less often than monthly, but no later than the agreement required, and the employee stated a claim because payments came months after the agreed dates. It dismissed a separate deduction claim under 193 and a claim under 191-c, which covers independent sales representatives, not employees.
Who won
Mixed. The court granted the motion in part and denied it in part.
Why it matters for salespeople
This is the only decision we found applying the "substantial" pay proviso to commissions. It is a trial-level decision, and the knowledge base explains why we read the proviso more narrowly.
Key passage: 2021 WL 4267815, at *15-16.
Read the decision (PDF) The court's filed opinion (ECF No. 82) with its own page numbers. It is not marked with Westlaw page numbers.
Source of the text: Justia (copy of the court’s filed opinion, ECF No. 82) — https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2020cv08742/546551/82/. This page summarizes the decision in plain language; the court’s own words are in the PDF above.