Company withholding bonus and payrise

Trolleydolly

My Other Half had a disciplinary last year which resulted in a written warning. This last for a year and finishes in June.
Last month his boss phoned him and said he was not getting the annual bonus that the rest of the employees are getting because he is on this warning.
Today the boss has phoned him to say he will also not be getting his annual payrise again because he is on a warning.
Neither the bonus or payrise were mentioned at the time of his disciplinary last year and he never received anything in writing.
Can the company do this? And if they can surely he should be receiving official letters to confirm it, not just sarky phone calls. The boss seems to be winding him up and I'm sure he is trying to bully him.
I would be grateful for any advise from you sharp cookies out there

zzzLazyDaisy

I am sorry to hear this, but unfortunately, no-one here is going to be able to help you much.

Why?

Because bonus schemes and pay rises are almost never contractual (some public sector workers get pay grade increments, but this is rarely the case in the private sector).

This means that you need to look at OH's contract/employee handbook/rules of the bonus scheme to see what the rules and provisions are for payrises and bonuses.

One thing to be clear about though - just because he was not told at the time of the warning, this doesn't make it unfair or unreasonable. This is because the bonus scheme and/or rules for payrises may well take into account disciplinary warnings when deciding whether to award a bonus/pay rise. This doesn't mean it is a disciplinary sanction per se, it just means that it is part of the scheme rules.

As you can see, without access to OH's employment documentation, all we can do is guess what might be the case, and that isn't helpful.

Daisy

EDIT: is he a member of a union? if so he should speak to them straight away, as they should be familiar with the employer's rules and procedures

Trolleydolly

Hi Daisy,

Thank you for your quick reply. It is a large company but does not have a union. So it seems he's got to lump it then? I can't believe employers can treat him so differently to other staff doing the same job? He seems to be being singled out and it feels very unfair.

Googlewhacker

Trolleydolly wrote: »

Hi Daisy,

Thank you for your quick reply. It is a large company but does not have a union. So it seems he's got to lump it then? I can't believe employers can treat him so differently to other staff doing the same job? He seems to be being singled out and it feels very unfair.

He was singled out for doing something wrong, how is that unfair? It would be unfair if there were other people on a written warning who DID recieve a pay rise or bonus.

Trolleydolly

Googlewhacker wrote: »

He was singled out for doing something wrong, how is that unfair? It would be unfair if there were other people on a written warning who DID recieve a pay rise or bonus.

Forum etiquette is 'be nice to all Moneysavers'. I am looking for constructive advice, not your personal nasty opinion. You are the reason I don't post on here very often. Did your mother never teach that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

All I was saying is surely a company should declare all its intentions at the original disciplinary hearing, not nearly a year later when the time has been spent.

Googlewhacker

Trolleydolly wrote: »

Forum etiquette is 'be nice to all Moneysavers'. I am looking for constructive advice, not your personal nasty opinion. You are the reason I don't post on here very often. Did your mother never teach that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

All I was saying is surely a company should declare all its intentions at the original disciplinary hearing, not nearly a year later when the time has been spent.

So because my opinion is differant it makes it nasty does it? Wow....

If he was doing the same job EXACTLY he would not have recieved the warning would he and the time isn't spent as per your first post as it runs out in June.

I think you'll find I did give you constructive advice in that if other members of staff had been on a written warning and recieved a pay rise or a bonus then this would be unfair.

Also just to correct you on post number three, companies do not have unions and it doesn't matter whether they refuse to acknowledge one or not, you can be a member of a union regardless of the employers view and in discplinarys you can take a union rep in and there is nothing the employer can do.

zzzLazyDaisy

Trolleydolly wrote: »

Hi Daisy,

So it seems he's got to lump it then? (

I didn't say that. What I said was, I have no way of knowing without seeing his contractual documents and the rules of the bonus scheme. But yes, it is not unusual for these things to be discretionary, or for the rules to provide that someone with a warning in the previous 12 months will not qualify for the bonus. As I said, without sight of the documentation I can only guess.

Daisy

isplumm

Trolleydolly wrote: »

Forum etiquette is 'be nice to all Moneysavers'. I am looking for constructive advice, not your personal nasty opinion. You are the reason I don't post on here very often. Did your mother never teach that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

All I was saying is surely a company should declare all its intentions at the original disciplinary hearing, not nearly a year later when the time has been spent.

I suspect you will find it in the handbook somewhere - but if this is a large company it must have a HR dept - maybe speak to them?

By the way - googlewhacker was pointing out that the reason he was being singled out was because of his disciplianary .... not sure what the issue with that is??

Mark

DCFC79

Trolleydolly wrote: »

Forum etiquette is 'be nice to all Moneysavers'. I am looking for constructive advice, not your personal nasty opinion. You are the reason I don't post on here very often. Did your mother never teach that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all?

All I was saying is surely a company should declare all its intentions at the original disciplinary hearing, not nearly a year later when the time has been spent.

what is wrong with people, googlewhackers advice was perfectly fine and helpful, can you not see it was helpful,

MrsTinks

I often find I don't agree with Googlewhacker - but on this occasion there is absolutely nothing I can see wrong with the post... entirely correctly your OH has been "singled out" because he did something that resulted in a written warning. It would only be unfair if other employees were also on a written warning and they DID get the raise and bonus.
As Daisy says... without knowledge of the exact employee handbook and contract details all anyone here can do is guess... HOWEVER I do know that in MY employee handbook it states under certain circumstances like if you are on a written warning then you are automatically disqualified from any payrises and bonus schemes... It's not at all unusual.

On the other hand... IF the manager is treating your OH infairly then document times, conversations, possible witnesses and when you have enough evidence put a complaint of bullying in to HR. After all 2 wrongs don't make a right.

DVardysShadow

Googlewhacker wrote: »

He was singled out for doing something wrong, how is that unfair? It would be unfair if there were other people on a written warning who DID recieve a pay rise or bonus.

A written warning is a written warning and should be the end of the matter as long as there is no repeat. Withholding a bonus is a sanction and withholding a payrise is another sanction, which has effect for the remainder of the employee's time with the company - and on their pension from that employment.

While it may be 'legal' or 'allowed', it is also underhand and deceitful. If these measures had been applied as sanctions from the disciplinary, they could have been appealed at the time.