Previous employer demanding payback of £2000 bonus

chuckley

oh how convenient of them to get rid of u on month 5!!

andygb

This sounds to me like a classic case of "bait and switch", where the employer lures people in with this "promise" of a £2K bonus, and then deliberately gets rid of them before the six months is up.
I would not repay a penny of it, because it was the employers decision to get rid of the OP.
I wonder how many times they have used this trick in the past?

vassa

OP should turn it round against them - they still owe him unpaid wages. He should begin court proceedings.

jamesfisher1989

Will send them a letter today so will keep you updated.

vassa

Does sound rather 'scammy'. Might be worth finding out if they've done this to people on a regular basis.

AP007

andygb wrote: »

This sounds to me like a classic case of "bait and switch", where the employer lures people in with this "promise" of a £2K bonus, and then deliberately gets rid of them before the six months is up.
I would not repay a penny of it, because it was the employers decision to get rid of the OP.
I wonder how many times they have used this trick in the past?

I did say this already that it was 1 week and a few days till the 6 mths were up

yvonne13_2

jamesfisher1989 wrote: »

Hoping someone can help with this..

I started a job in February of this year. In the contract I signed, it was stated that I was to receive a joining bonus of £2000. If I was to leave the company within 6 months I was required to pay this money back. I signed this contract, no disputing that.

In July of this year I was rather suddenly told I was to lose my job, due to cutbacks in the number of permanent staff. I was treated pretty shoddily to be perfectly honest, however I was still in a probationary period so not a lot I could do.

As per my contract, my employer has written to me demanding the money back. The £2000 was payrolled, so they are demanding the amount back less whatever I was taxed on it, it comes to over a thousand pounds.
Leaving aside all moral arguments, what tactics could they use to get this back? I can't stress enough how crappy the company the company was to me, normally I could accept if I had signed up to something and it didn't work out but if the company was to go bust tomorrow I wouldn't be shedding any tears put it that way.

Just looking for some honest opinions/thoughts as to how this situation could pan out.

OP so your ex employer never chased you for the money in August and September?

Also if the company was that crappy to you ,why did you stay?

vassa

yvonne13 wrote: »

Also if the company was that crappy to you ,why did you stay?

Obviously meant the way they just fired him.

yvonne13_2

vassa wrote: »

Obviously meant the way they just fired him.

Saying and meaning are two very different things, so I'll wait until the OP confirms exactly what he means.

vassa

yvonne13 wrote: »

Saying and meaning are two very different things, so I'll wait until the OP confirms exactly what he means.

Fair enough, but i think if you had to give your employer £2000 if you left, you'd stay no matter how bad it was. Also there's the awkward prospect of leaving and getting zero income unless you can find work right away, as the dole won't pay out if you leave employment.