Commission on "Pipeline"

Sorry about the length - but we don't deal with this very often.

We have a mortgage originator who resigned (and worked his last day) on April 1, 2004. His pay was based on a draw and commissions on closed mortgages (he received the draw bi-weekly and commission monthly). His final payroll was paid today and included commissions for mortgages closed in March. His contract (signed by him) states "If for any reason the employee terminates employment, the employee will not be entitled to any commission subsequent to the date of termination." Massachusetts wage & hour regulations concerning payment of wages states "this section shall apply to the payment of commissions when the amount of such commisions has been definitely determined and has become due and payable to such employee."

My question is - will we continue to owe him commission on mortages in his pipeline? They have not closed and may not close. Until they do, we aren't able to calculate the commission. But since they are closing after termination, do we owe him anything.

(I tried to call our lawyers, but they are off for Good Friday; we bankers on the other hand are here all day).

Comments

  • 3 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Now that the lawyers are back, please tell us what they said about this situation.
  • Hi Deidre,

    We also have originators on commission who may term with a pipeline.... We do allow them to collect commission on these cases as they close, but charge a 20% processing/admin. fee based on the commission rate. This is typed into the most recent employment agreement that is signed by the originators.
  • The lawyers are finally back. His answer is what I expected. The verbage in the contract is worthless. Primarily it comes down to we need to pay for work done. The originators job is to find the mortgagees, complete the loan application and gather backup documents. It then goes to the clerks to finish. If the originator completed his usual portion of the work, he is entitled to the commission when the loan is closed (whenever that is). If he only did a portion of the work and someone else had to complete it, then he would be entitled to an equitable portion of the commission.
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