Galloway v. Chicago-Soft5/11/1998
Sullivan
The defendant, Chicago-Soft, Ltd., appeals, and the plaintiff, Bryan K. Galloway, cross-appeals, the decision of the Superior Court (Brennan, J.) awarding the plaintiff commissions, liquidated damages, and attorney's fees arising from a wage claim made by the plaintiff against the defendant, his former employer. We affirm in part, reverse in part, vacate in part, and remand to the department of labor.
Galloway was hired as national sales manager by Chicago-Soft in November 1992. His compensation package included salary and commissions on the sales of various product lines. On August 2, 1994 (termination date), Chicago-Soft terminated Galloway's employment. Chicago-Soft initially paid Galloway his salary through the termination date and commissions based upon "receipts" as of July 31, 1994. Galloway then filed two statutory wage claims with the department of labor (DOL), see RSA 275:51 (1987) (amended 1995, 1997), seeking unpaid salary, commissions, profit sharing and vacation benefits, an unpaid bonus, and severance pay. An initial award by the DOL was reversed and remanded by the superior court. The ensuing second award by the DOL was reversed a second time by the superior court, which held, inter alia, that Galloway was entitled to commissions on sales collected through August 31, 1994, liquidated damages on unpaid salary, vacation, and commissions, and reasonable attorney's fees. This appeal followed.
On appeal, both parties dispute the superior court's award of commissions on sales collected through August 1994. Chicago-Soft also argues that the superior court erred when it awarded liquidated damages and attorney's fees. Galloway contends that the superior court erred in denying his claim for statutory interest and in refusing to award the proper amount of attorney's fees.
I. Commissions
The superior court ruled that Galloway was entitled to commissions on sales collected through the month of August 1994. Both parties contend that the trial court's ruling was erroneous. Chicago-Soft argues that the court improperly substituted its own findings of fact for those of the DOL, which held that Galloway was entitled to commissions on collections only through the termination date. Galloway argues that the court erred in not awarding commissions on all sales closed before the termination date and in failing to award commissions on sales pending at termination and later closed. We hold that, as a matter of law, Galloway was entitled to commissions on sales closed by the termination date. We accordingly reverse the ruling of the superior court and remand this action to the DOL for a calculation of commissions due.
The dispute centers on a letter agreement sent to Galloway by Chicago-Soft's president in which he stated that Galloway's compensation would be calculated as follows:
1. A base annual salary of $50,000 paid once a month at the end of each month.
2. Commissions on all sales (both those closed by [the former sales manager] and the ones closed by you) will be:
a. Starting for sales collected in the month of January commissions will be paid at a rate of 3% on the first $2,000,000 of the net sales revenue collected . . . .
b. Once the revenue exceeds $2,000,000 during any calendar year the commission rate will be 4% of all those sales in excess of the $2,000,000 range.
c. If sales exceed $3,000,000 during any calendar year the commission rate on the sales in excess of $3,000,000 will be paid at a rate of 5%.
d. If sales exceed $4,000,000 during any calendar year the commission rate paid on the amount in excess of $4,000,000 will be 6%.
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