Commission Only But Still An Employee

You are paid purely on commission, with no basic salary, and you were told that makes you a contractor, not an employee. Your actual working days say something different.

A commission only pay structure does not automatically decide your legal status. Courts look at how the relationship actually worked, which is the heart of any gig worker classification question.

Does being paid commission only mean I am not an employee?

Not necessarily. Courts consider factors such as control over your hours, whether you use company equipment, and whether you can send someone else to do the work.

A worker who follows set hours, reports to a manager, and cannot substitute someone else for the role often looks like an employee regardless of the pay structure.

Why does this classification matter so much?

If you are genuinely an employee, you gain access to unfair dismissal protection and other entitlements that a true independent contractor does not have.

Being incorrectly labelled a contractor can mean losing out on protection you were actually entitled to the whole time, without ever realising it.

What evidence supports employee status here?

Gather anything showing control, such as fixed hours, required reporting, company email or uniform, and any performance targets set by your employer.

Keep messages showing instructions about how, not just what, work should be done, since the degree of control is often the clearest signal.

How does the sixty day deadline apply if I am dismissed?

If you are found to be an employee and were dismissed without just cause, you still have sixty days to file a Section 20 representation with the Director General of Industrial Relations¹.

Your employer would carry the burden of proving the relationship was genuinely a contractor arrangement, not simply asserting the label used in your agreement².

What should you do this week?

Write down a typical working day, including your hours, who directs your tasks, and whether you could realistically decline work.

If your written agreement uses fixed term contractor language despite ongoing renewal, read about a contractor who is really an employee, and use the deadline calculator if a dismissal has already happened.