The Minnesota Court of Appeals just affirmed a very harsh decision against an employer who did not timely pay wages. The litigation at issue related to unpaid commissions (deemed wages under Minnesota law in this situation) during an employee's term of employment. The dispute was not resolved during the employment term and continued beyond the parties' separation.
The dispute was whether the commissions due were based on gross profit or net profit. Predictably, the employee's position was that gross profit was the baseline. With that, the employer's position that net profits was the baseline would have resulted in a lower payment to the employee than that the employee deemed correct. What did the employer do? Paid nothing!!!
What the employer should have done was pay the undisputed amount. The employee could receive the disputed amount while preserving claims to the greater amount. Oddly, the employee actually worked for many months without being paid anything.
The result? The employer was forced to pay double the unpaid wages awarded to the employee at trial. The Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court's decision based upon the language of Minnesota Statutes Section 181.02, subd. 3.
So, whether in Hugo, Lino Lakes, White Bear Lake or elsewhere, pay the amount that is not disputed!!!
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