Virginia\u2019s wage-payment law has been one of the most potent pieces of employment legislation in the Commonwealth in recent years, because it does more than tell employers when to pay; it arms employees with meaningful remedies when pay is unlawfully withheld. Va. Code \u00a7 40.1-29 requires employers to establish regular pay periods, to pay employees all wages or salaries due for work performed, and to forward pending wages in a timely manner after separation. \u00a0It also restricts an employer\u2019s ability to withhold wages (outside of taxes and other lawful deductions) without the employee\u2019s written authorization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When an employee resigns or is terminated, disputes often arise over unpaid commissions where the employee has significantly contributed to a particular project or sale. \u00a0The employer commonly treats commissions as contingent upon some later milestone or event, such as project completion or customer payment. In\u00a0Groundworks Operations LLC v. Campbell<\/em>\u00a0(Va. Supreme Court Record No. 241092, December 30, 2025), former employees alleged they were owed commissions connected to sales activity occurring during their employment, while the employer\u2019s position was that the company\u2019s commission structure did not require payment when employment ended before later conditions were satisfied. The employees invoked Va. Code \u00a7 40.1-29\u2019s wage-theft framework, seeking to treat the unpaid commissions as \u201cwages\u201d protected by the statute\u2019s enhanced civil remedies.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Supreme Court did not ultimately resolve the dispute by declaring when, as a matter of commission-plan design, a commission becomes \u201cearned.\u201d Instead, it focused on a threshold question: whether Va. Code Section 40.1-29 covers commissions at all. The Court held that, under the statute\u2019s language and context, the wage-theft statute does not extend its protections to commissions. The Supreme Court’s decision reverses the Court of Appeals’ November 2024 ruling in the same case, which had held that commissions were included within the statutory definition of “wages.” That intermediate appellate court had relied on the remedial purpose of the wage-theft statute, past decisions interpreting “wages” in other contexts, and guidance from an administrative agency field manual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The resulting caveat for Virginia employers again highlights the importance of carefully defining and communicating commission compensation plans. A well-drafted plan spells out what event earns the commission, what happens if the employee separates prior to payout, and whether one must be employed on payout date. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Virginia\u2019s wage-payment law has been one of the most potent pieces of employment legislation in the Commonwealth in recent years, because it does more than tell employers when to pay; it arms employees with meaningful remedies when pay is unlawfully … Continue reading