
IBM to face trial for lowering sales commissions after deals are closed - based2
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/10/ibm_practice_of_capping_sales/
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kaustavha
they did the same thing with patents now too.

guaranteed first filer bonus if you follow the patent through. emails and asks
for reviews after you quit, update your address to for automated payment..

once it passes they screw you over saying they wont pay since the patent was
filed after you left. ibm wont even tell you the patent was filed even though
your names on it and they have all your info and came asking for help before

still trying to figure out how to get paid for my patent, will probably just
open it up

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mcherm
> still trying to figure out how to get paid for my patent, will probably just
> open it up

I don't fully understand the situation you are in, but from what you describe
that would be impossible. just because you are the inventor on a patent
doesn't mean that you are the owner of the patent. Only the owner, not the
inventor, can authorize other people to use the patented invention.

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gumby
This happened to me at a startup. It was too hard to fight so I left and they
were gone within a year.

I'd like to think they died because they couldn't survive without me, but the
reason is more prosaic: the kinds of people who think that way can't build
team that can succeed.

They even screwed me on my final expense report.

A few months after they ceased operation I got a letter from the CEO saying he
needed my signature on some paperwork so they could secure some funding or
assign some IP or something like that. I tossed it.

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JoeAltmaier
I thought their conversion to self-funded pension over their previous 100-year
company-funded generous pension, was some kind of singular lapse in morals. I
guess not.

(They pocketed billions in the process, as they carved down the benefit inch
by inch to almost nothing, once accounting figured out "every dollar screwed
out of the employees, I get a 1% bonus").

~~~
ASalazarMX
That must be the richest accountant in the world.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Well, the money folks have taken over corporations. They're more likely to be
run by an accountant than a business person today. That happened in the 80's.
After that, big business has been all about squeezing cash for executives and
stockholders at any cost.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Really? There are still people who don't know this? How can this topic be
controversial?

The executive suite in most large companies is a brutal sociopathic rush to
quarterly bonus, which they give themselves for meeting arbitrary 'goals' that
don't relate to real company performance. The employees be damned; the
customer be damned; the company future be damned.

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wilt
Yeah typical ibm behaviour. They always play dirty. Best thing I did was leave
IBM years ago.

~~~
johnward
I actually left IBM to become an IBM subcontractor. I was treated better, paid
better, and had better benefits.

~~~
sova
Outsource yourself and get better treatment -- that's too hysterical to laugh!

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empath75
It sometimes feels like Alsup is the only federal judge that is actually doing
his job rather than rubber stamping whatever the bigger company wants to do.

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seibelj
I know a guy who got hired to lead a major startup's enterprise sales team
that had been floundering. They had a couple guys running it for a year and
they hadn't had any success, and they agreed to give him uncapped commissions.

My friend is an animal and came right in with a plan and process, making 80
calls a day, working all of his contacts, grew the pipeline, and over a year
made nearly $1 million in commissions.

 _Then they CFO backed out on the agreement!_ "You can't make this much money,
you would be the highest paid employee." Even though he made them far, far
more than he took in. He stayed and got a decent chunk of cash but had to
settle mostly for stock options (recent update: massive covid layoffs!). If
you are paying a sales commission it's because they made you more money. It's
called incentive alignment.

~~~
gamblor956
That doesn't sound like a true story. If they had a legal agreement to pay him
unbound commissions the CFO can't just change it after the fact whether or not
the salesperson would be the highest paid employee. (Fun fact: at most B2B
companies, the sales teams are the highest paid employees outside of the
C-suite executives.)

~~~
psds2
Yes, the CFO can. Even more outrageous, if the CFO did then then the person
seibelj knows would be forced to litigate the matter in civil court and ask to
have the legal agreement enforced. There is a chance his state employment
office would help, but likely the law is more complex than they are equipped
to deal with.

~~~
gamblor956
No, the CFO can't. This is not just a civil matter, it's a Dept of Labor
matter.

The law is relatively simple on this matter: if the company entered into a
contract to pay commissions, and the agent satisfied the terms of those
commissions, then the company is required to pay the commissions absent a
bankruptcy that eliminates or reorganizes the debt.

On top of that, based on the facts provided, the CFO has committed an
intentional tort--interference with contract, meaning that punitive damages
are available, i.e., up to 3x actual damages.

Yes, it would require the individual to go to court. The likely outcome is
that he would receive a very large sum of money, and the CFO would likely get
blacklisted from CFO and finance positions at any reputable company.

~~~
seibelj
It's all upper management stuff, he got paid but took it in equity more than
cash. He still works there, didn't want to burn bridges. Dispute resolution
like this is not uncommon.

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say_it_as_it_is
The I.T. department for the U.S. government that wins every no-bid contract it
applies for

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fphhotchips
I'm on the sales side of my org and I have to say if I hear of this stuff
going on at a company, I immediately start looking elsewhere. Why do people
still work for IBM? There's no reason except "it's a steady paycheck", which
honestly at this stage probably isn't good enough for quality sales people or
quality engineers.

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mathattack
Not a surprise given what’s written elsewhere about them.

