Bonus clawed back without notice

vermicious-knid

Hi all, I tend to lurk more than post but would appreciate some advice please.

Been on maternity leave since July last year. In the time I have been on leave, the merger which happened last year has been progressing.

Now when I started mat leave I was under the old set of scheme/rules which meant I still qualified for bonus. But the new company which is taking over more than merging, is putting all staff onto its new t&c's regarding bonus which means they are not eligible for bonus while on mat leave.

In March I had a bonus of £122 clawed back without any notice whatsoever which was a chunk of my smp just gone without warning....

I called HR who referred me to line manager who emailed a central team who claimed that I did not qualify for the bonus under the new scheme rules which is why it had been clawed back. No "sorry we didn't let you know" or anything. As far as I was concerned my mat leave came under the old scheme rules since I started mat leave before these came into effect and the union agreed with me.

This bonus related to a perfect visit score which my department achieved in the last quarter of last year.

I have repeatedly asked my line manager and the manager above her for a copy of the scheme rules to prove that I am not entitled to this bonus but they are ignoring my emails. I have been in touch with the union and he recommended that I ask for these rules to be shown to me.

Would you still pursue this or let it drop altogether?

DVardysShadow

I would pursue it. You won the bonus by putting in the effort. They can move the goalposts for the next game, but it is dishonest to move the goalposts after the match and then disallow goals which had gone between the posts on the day the match was played.

Googlewhacker

DVardysShadow wrote: »

I would pursue it. You won the bonus by putting in the effort. They can move the goalposts for the next game, but it is dishonest to move the goalposts after the match and then disallow goals which had gone between the posts on the day the match was played.

I agree with the above. It also depends how safe you feel in your job and as long as there is very little risk of singling yourself out I would definately be complaining about this.

vermicious-knid

Thanks for the replies... Will keep at them then to try reclaim it.

Would this clawback count as an unlawful deduction of wages under the Employment Rights Act 1996?

thank you for the help

DVardysShadow

vermicious-knid wrote: »

... Would this clawback count as an unlawful deduction of wages under the Employment Rights Act 1996?

Best to contact ACAS for this question. As far as I can see, if you knew what the bonus would be during the period of working for it, then it would be wages, which have been unlawfully deducted. But you need to check this out for the specific case of a bonus.

Collect together your evidence of the rules for the bonus scheme, because if it is not unlawful deduction, you may have grounds for a claim in the small claims court.

Sambucus_Nigra

Not only that; I am not sure if they CAN stop people on maternity from getting a bonus in the first place, if they have contributed to that work.

You definitely need to speak to ACAS