The Whitehead Report: Why the Brunswickan has Contracts

2006-2013 — Bill Traer, The Brunswickan Publishing. 

For seven years, Bill Traer was a fixture at The Brunswickan, selling ads, securing revenue, and ensuring the paper had the financial support to keep running. His position as sales manager wasn’t just a job; it was a role he had grown into, a responsibility he carried with him year after year. But beneath the routine of sales calls and contracts, a problem was brewing—one that wouldn’t come to light until he was long gone.

Traer had an agreement, or so he thought. His pay was structured around a base salary, a commission system that rewarded him for exceeding sales targets, and periodic raises meant to reflect his growing experience and contributions. At first, everything seemed to align. But as the years went by, the numbers on paper and the deposits in his account began to tell a different story.

The problem wasn’t an isolated miscalculation, rather, to him, It was a pattern. Year after year, Traer’s expected earnings didn’t match what he received. He had been promised 40% commission on sales exceeding $50,000, later revised to $60,000, but when the checks came in, the math didn’t add up. Annual raises, meant to acknowledge his performance, were either delayed or quietly overlooked. The missing amounts weren’t small — they accumulated, quietly at first, until they became impossible to ignore.

By the time he left in 2013, Traer’s patience had worn thin. He did the calculations and the result was staggering — he was owed tens of thousands in unpaid earnings. With no formal contract spelling out the terms in legal ink and no record of performance reviews, the situation sat in a legal gray area. He wasn’t classified as a seasonal worker, yet the lack of formal documentation made it difficult to pin down whether severance applied.

The case law held in the Brunswickan’s archives suggested different possibilities. Some courts had ruled in favor of employees in similar situations, recognizing unwritten agreements and patterns of expectation as binding. Others had sided with employers, arguing that without clear contracts, there was no obligation to pay beyond what had already been issued. For The Brunswickan, the question wasn’t just about the money — it was about precedent. 

The Whitehead Report does not discuss the legal actions taken, but one thing is certain: Traer is the reason the Brunswickan has written contracts today.