Do you still pay a recruiter their commission if they leave the company?

I recently had an employee leave my company and he is still due half his commission check for a placement. What is the industry standard on paying out the remaining commission if an employee leaves? PLEASE ADVISE!

Comment by Ryan Leary on August 6, 2012 at 11:47am: Yes

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on August 6, 2012 at 12:23pm: wow... glad to know employees aren't allowed to badmouth previous employers... since we get killed on glassdoor (I've actually lost candidates over it) do I have a defamation case????

People gonna talk. Good look trying to stop them.

Comment by Bill Schultz on August 6, 2012 at 12:42pm: Not much different from here , Russ.

Comment by Chris Connolly on August 6, 2012 at 12:52pm: I can tell you from previously working at a national firm - you are only paid your commission when the client pays the bill. If you aren't still employed at that time, the money goes to the "House".

That's from personal experience. I checked with a lawyer here in CT at the time and CT law makes almost no mention of sales commissions or when they must be paid out.

Comment by Andrew Hanneman on August 6, 2012 at 1:25pm: I could not agree with Sandra more!! Calling in sick when you are on the way out is not commiting fraud. Using all of your vaca/sick days before you leave a company would be intelligent and not milking the company. You provided these benefits...is he not supposed to use them. Now, the 6 week notice for a sales position is odd, so I would ask yourself why you did a 6 week notice. Sales is about motivation and I can't imaging there was alot of client building in that 6 week period there fore probably not too many sales. But regardless, you accepted his 6 week notice.

He earned the commision, he placed people that you as the owner made money on. Not paying him would be unethical and immoral and be a pretty shitty thing to do. That kind of stuff gets around quick, remember what they say, do a good thing and your customer/employee tells 1 person, do something bad and they tell 500.

You don't want to be known as an agency that tries to screw their sales reps! my $.02

Comment by Mark on August 6, 2012 at 1:47pm: Gabriel, you've already answered your own question, "...he is still due half his commission check..."

Why are you even asking us for our opinion?

Comment by Sandra McCartt on August 6, 2012 at 2:06pm: I have to laugh at us sometimes. What is one of the first things we say to a candidate who is looking for a new job?

"Ok, when can you interview, do you have any vacation time coming that you can use before you leave to do interviews?" "You don't, drat, how about a doctors appointment?"

Feels different when the foo is on the other shit, n'est pas?

Comment by Andrew Hanneman on August 6, 2012 at 2:08pm: lol at sandra

Comment by Amy Ala Miller on August 6, 2012 at 2:42pm: lol @Sandra so true!!!!

Comment by Gabriel Bachove on August 6, 2012 at 2:49pm: Sandra-I always see you state your mind...thank you! I have been on both sides of the job force, employee and employer, so I do understand both views, sometimes I need the advice from people in my industry. Thank you everyone for chiming in on this scenario!

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