AT&T, Sales Class Must Keep Litigating Commission Chargeback (1)

AT&T Mobility Services LLC and a certified class of sales employees must continue to litigate whether the company’s commission-deduction practices violate West Virginia law, after a federal judge answered an important legal question in AT&T’s favor but pointed to multiple unresolved factual issues.

The “chargeback” amounts deducted from the employees’ unearned wages don’t constitute an assignment of wages under the West Virginia Wage Payment and Collection Act, Judge John T. Copenhaver Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia said Monday.

But it’s still unclear if AT&T deducted “chargebacks” from earned or hourly wages, applied ...