Promised Commission or Bonus Not Paid in the Philippines: How to Prove It and Claim It

Short answer: earned commission is usually recoverable; a bonus depends on what was promised

Whether you can recover an unpaid commission or bonus in the Philippines depends on what kind of money it is. Commission that is tied directly to sales you closed is generally treated as part of your wage and can be claimed much like unpaid salary. A bonus that the company grants at its own discretion usually cannot be demanded, unless it has turned into a promise or an established practice. Before you confront anyone, classify the money.

Ask three questions. First, is there a defined formula? An amount computed as a share of signed contracts, collected payments or units sold looks like commission. An amount that depends on company performance or on the mood of the owner looks like a discretionary bonus. Second, have the conditions already been met? If the deal is signed, the client has paid, the target was reached and you were the person who made it happen, the money is closer to something already earned. Third, is it written into your contract, offer letter or compensation plan, or has the company paid it the same way for a long time? A written term is a contractual obligation. A benefit that has been given consistently, deliberately and without conditions over a long period may have become a benefit the employer cannot withdraw on its own.

Your position is weaker when the plan says in writing that the bonus is at management discretion and may be changed at any time, when one of the stated conditions was truly not met, or when the so-called promise was a vague remark over dinner with no figure and no condition attached. Weaker does not mean hopeless. It means you need other evidence to turn a loose remark into a specific commitment.

Do not confuse a year-end bonus with thirteenth month pay. The latter is mandatory and non-payment can be reported directly, while a year-end bonus is voluntary in nature. The difference is explained in year-end bonus versus thirteenth month pay. This article deals with one situation only: commission or bonus that was promised orally or half in writing and then withheld.

Proving an oral promise: turn one sentence into a chain of evidence

An oral promise is not worthless. The difficulty is proving that it existed, what its terms were and that the conditions were satisfied. No single item needs to be decisive; several items that confirm one another are enough. Look in four places.

1. Traces of the promise itself. Your offer letter, contract annexes, the pay summary you received at onboarding, and any message from your boss or supervisor on WeChat, Viber or email saying what share you get on a deal or what bonus follows a target. Screenshots should show the sender, the name and the date. Export the original chat history as well instead of keeping one cropped image.
2. Records that the same rule was honored before. Earlier payslips, bank credits and commission sheets. If the same formula was paid in previous months, it stops being only your own understanding.
3. Proof that the conditions were met. The client list you handled, quotations and contracts, delivery records, collection notices and sales rankings. Pin down two facts: the deal was yours, and the money reached the company.
4. Supporting material. What colleagues in the same role receive, incentive schemes announced in company group chats, policy documents issued by HR. Whether a colleague will speak up is a separate matter, but the documents themselves can be used.

One more step is very effective: send a calm confirmation message after the fact. Restate the arrangement, name the month, the clients, the rate and the total you believe is due, and ask when payment is expected. A reply such as next month or once the client pays is itself an acknowledgment that the arrangement exists. Silence still proves that you raised the claim promptly.

Be careful with recordings. Secretly recording a private conversation without consent carries legal risk in the Philippines and the recording may not be usable anyway. The safer route is to move the conversation into writing. If you are unsure, ask a lawyer before you record anything.

The first few days: five things to do and three things to avoid

Secure evidence first, make a written demand second, and only then decide how hard to push. Reverse that order and the evidence tends to disappear before you need it.

1. Move your own pay records out of company systems the same day. Payslips, commission sheets, chat logs and your own sales reports can go to a personal email or cloud folder. Take only material about your own pay. Do not walk off with the client database, pricing files or other trade secrets, or the company gains a counter-accusation.
2. Compute what you believe is owed. Build a table with the period, the client or project, the formula, what was paid and what is outstanding. Mark any assumption clearly.
3. Raise it formally in writing. Send it to your direct supervisor and copy HR or finance. State the basis, the amount and the date by which you hope to hear back. Stay restrained. No insults, no threats.
4. Find out the real reason for non-payment. Tight cash flow, a revised plan and a personal grudge call for very different responses.
5. Check your own status timeline. A foreign employee should look at how long the 9G visa and work permit still run and who is holding the passport before deciding how firm to be.

Three things to avoid. Do not simply stop showing up. That lets the company change the subject from money it owes to your absence; the consequences are covered in what happens if you go AWOL in the Philippines. Do not hold company property, client payments or account access as leverage. That turns a simple money claim into a problem of your own. Do not sign any paper saying everything has been settled or that you waive further claims unless you fully understand it, even if you are told it is a formality. If basic salary is also starting to arrive late, see salary always paid late while you are still employed.

The four explanations companies give, and how well each one holds

When payment is refused, the explanation is almost always one of four. Each can be tested.

You have left, and commission is only for active employees. Check whether that rule was stated in advance and whether you knew of it. If the sale was completed and the conditions were met before you left, the money looks like pay already earned and the company will struggle to withhold it merely because you are gone. If the plan clearly requires you to be employed on the payout date and you acknowledged it when you joined, the dispute is harder and a lawyer should read the exact wording. Where the whole final settlement is being held, see final pay withheld for months.

The client has not paid yet. First check whether commission accrues on signing or on collection. If it accrues on collection, non-payment by the client is a valid reason to wait, but the company should be able to tell you which account is unpaid instead of giving a general answer. Once the client pays, this reason is gone.

It is a discretionary bonus and the company may choose not to give it. A truly discretionary bonus does leave the company wide room. But if the payment follows a fixed formula, is tied to individual results and has been paid the same way for years, calling it a bonus does not change what it is.

The plan has changed and you do not qualify under the new one. A company may revise incentives going forward. It generally may not rewrite the plan backwards to erase rights that had already matured. Compare two things: whether your results fall under the old plan or after the new one took effect, and whether the new plan was ever formally communicated to you.

There is a quieter version: nobody says no, payment simply keeps slipping. Delay is not refusal, but claims do expire, so you cannot wait forever. Follow up in writing at regular intervals. Each message is both a reminder and a record that you kept asserting the claim. Keep those follow-ups short, factual and dated, and save every reply you receive in the same folder as your other evidence.

When internal requests fail: from conciliation to labor arbitration

If internal demands lead nowhere, the next step is free conciliation through the labor authorities, and only after that a labor arbitration case. Most commission disputes end at the conciliation stage.

Level one: the written demand. The letter that states your amount and a response date is the starting point for everything that follows. Many companies choose to negotiate once they realize the employee holds complete records.

Level two: single-entry conciliation, known as SEnA. You file a request for assistance at the labor department office or the arbitration branch covering your workplace, and a desk officer brings both sides together. There is no filing fee, no lawyer is required and you do not have to resign first. A settlement reached there is binding. What the labor department does and does not handle is set out in how to file a complaint with the Philippine labor department.

Level three: labor arbitration. If conciliation fails, the matter can be brought before a labor arbiter as a money claim. Pleadings and proof become noticeably more demanding at this point and a lawyer is usually advisable. The general shape of the timeline and expense is described in how long a Philippine labor case takes and what it involves.

Some practical points. First, money claims are subject to a legal prescriptive period counted from the date the amount became due. The exact period is a matter of law and legal advice, so do not leave it until you are about to leave the country. Second, raising a claim while still employed is your right. Retaliation, harassment or pressure to quit because of it may be a separate violation; pressure to resign is covered in being forced to resign in the Philippines. Third, settling is not a defeat. Recovering most of the amount together with a clean exit is often worth more than a favorable decision on paper, provided the settlement states the amount, the payment date and exactly what both sides are releasing.

If your contract is with a parent company in China and the commission is paid from there, jurisdiction and governing law become far more complicated. Have a lawyer assess which side is the realistic place to claim before you file anything.

Foreign employees: commission, declared salary and not being cornered over your visa

A foreign employee has the same legal right to earned commission as a local one, but must manage one extra line: lawful stay is tied to this employer.

First, labor rights are not discounted by nationality. Where an employment relationship exists and the work is performed in the Philippines, the conciliation and arbitration routes above are open to you. How people with imperfect status can still claim is discussed in recovering unpaid wages as a foreigner in the Philippines.

Second, watch the gap between declared salary and real income. Many companies declare one figure for the work visa while a large part of actual income is commission that never appears on the books. Claiming that portion raises two difficulties: there is less paper, and the question of whether it was properly reported for tax. Neither is a reason to give up, but a lawyer should assess how to frame the claim before you start.

Third, do not let the visa become the other side's lever. Some employers hint that they will cancel your work visa or report you to immigration if you keep pressing. An employer does have paperwork to complete when employment ends, but that is not a licence to pressure you into abandoning pay. How to respond is covered in when an employer threatens to report you to immigration. The key is knowing in advance how long your status lasts after separation and what you can convert to.

Fourth, if the company is holding your passport, get it back first. A passport is your own document and should never be a bargaining chip.

What Yixing does: whether your claim holds up under labor law, what to demand and whether to file a case are questions for a licensed lawyer; Yixing is a private consultancy, not a law firm. Our part is the status side: checking the real state and remaining validity of your 9G visa, Alien Employment Permit and ACR I-Card; sequencing the paperwork if you decide to stay, change employers or leave, so the labor dispute and your lawful stay do not collide; and helping you find a lawyer who handles labor and immigration matters. For that kind of help, see Yixing visa and HR advisory.

Yixing International Travel is a Chinese-language business consultancy registered in Makati, Philippines, holding SEC Registration CS202009551, Bureau of Immigration Accreditation No. CA-202624381-1 (valid to 2027-06-30), DOLE accreditation and PRA accreditation. We are not affiliated with any government agency and promise no outcome. How to choose a lawyer is in how to find a reliable lawyer in the Philippines. Consult a licensed lawyer for your specific case; this article is not legal advice.