Can an employer reclaim a bonus?

SueC_2

A lot of bonuses are "non-contractual" which means they can do pretty much what they please. Like others have said, wait till the money's in your account before resigning - it's highly unlikely they'll take it back from there.

Yes - it is very 'normal' for a raft of resignations to appear the day after bonus payment day. From an employer's point of view, the cleverest bonus scheme I have come across worked like this:

Period of calculation: January to December
Indicative figures announced: end of December (everyone thinks "Wow, I'm in for a good payout here)
Definitive figures announced: end of March, when year end accounts finalised (everyone thinks "Yippee, good payout heading in my direction")
Bonus Payment made: 50% end of June, 50% end of December (nicely coinciding with indicative figures for the next year's payments).

If you wanted to resign and not be out of pocket, you were dependent on the company having a bad year - which rarely happened because everyone was trapped in a cycle of knowing what they had to gain from the company doing well. It worked brilliantly.

maurice28

Thanks all for the advice and feedback. I do remember that in December last year, a former colleague was still paid a Christmas bonus despite being in her notice period and leaving the company the week after the bonus was paid, so I'm not sure if that sets a pattern that they would have to follow.

Either way, I'll probably hold off until after payday to resign.

an9i77

Resign after payday. I very much doubt they'd be able to recall the money once it's gone into your bank account.

zzzLazyDaisy

The rules of the bonus scheme almost certainly won't be in your contract, they will be in a separate document. Most bonus schemes are expressly worded to be discretionary, or non-contractual. Some will only payout if you are still employed when the bonus payments are due, some will not pay out if you are working your notice at that point. The sensible thing to do would be to wait until you have your bonus in your bank account before handing in your notice, if that's possible. It is unlikely that the employer would seek to recover the bonus once paid, even if you handed in your notice the day after. Having said that, if the rules of the bonus scheme state something like 'if you leave within one month of the bonus being paid you agree to repay the money' then they may seek to recover it. The point is - only the rules of the bonus scheme can tell you what the rules are, as there is no over-arching general law about this.