I am paid a minimum base pay or commission, whichever is greater (bi-weekly). This was a verbal agreement between myself & my employer when I was hired. Now my employer is stating the base pays were actually Draws & that I owe him over $50,000.
At no time did we discuss the base pay being Draws, nor would I ever agree to that. There is no written contract stating the base pays were Draws or that I had to pay those back. Nor has my employer tried to collect on those base pays before now (after two years of paying base pays)).
My employer sent a spreadsheet to me this past Thursday showing the base pays as Draws, & he applied my current paycheck to the total "Draw" amount, meaning I am not getting paid this week. In fact, it means he will not pay me until he collects another $49,000.
I called my state Department of Labor. The advisor I spoke to said I need to fight this is in the civil courts. She stated if the base pay was an advance towards my commission (draw), my employer would have had to tell me. She also wanted to know why my employer would let it go for almost two years (if collecting on the base pays is what he really intended). She stated draws usually get drawn in the pay period, not two years down the road.
I need to know what is the best course of action, & the quickest course. My employer owes me close to $20,000 (yesterday's paycheck which I did not receive, and unpaid commission on jobs I sold).
Thank you for taking the time to read and respond.