Bonus whilst under notice

cool_dude_2000

Hi all

Under my present employer, I am under their bonus scheme which is dependant upon personal and company objectives being met for the financial year until September. The bonuses are expected to be paid in December and I believe having met the personal and company objectives that I should be entitled to the full amount.

I resigned from my role at the beginning of October, and am currently working my three month notice period. i have been informed by my manager that as the bonus is viewed as 'discretionery' by the company and can be withdrawn at any time, it is likely I won't be awarded it due to my resignation.

I strongly believe I am entitled to the bonus (about £12k) given I have performed over the period it relates to and that i will effectively still be working there (albeit under notice) when it is due to be paid in December.

Do I have a leg to stand on?

nearlyrich

You need to check the terms of your contract relating to the bonus, mine says I will be paid any bonus due as long as I am still employed by the company for the whole of the period the bonus is being earned so in your position I would be paid... but what yours says is what is important.

cool_dude_2000

Im awaiting the terms and conditions, but my manager said he believed the scheme states I would have to be in employment at the point at which its paid. Which means that anyone can wait until its paid and then leave straight away so it doesn't incentive the right behaviour.

but even if it said this, surely I would still be entitled as I had worked during the bonus period and the employer has an obligation to act fairly?

double_mummy

depends on your contract at my old place the bonus was at senior managements discretion

RobTang

cool_dude_2000 wrote: »

Im awaiting the terms and conditions, but my manager said he believed the scheme states I would have to be in employment at the point at which its paid. Which means that anyone can wait until its paid and then leave straight away so it doesn't incentive the right behaviour.

but even if it said this, surely I would still be entitled as I had worked during the bonus period and the employer has an obligation to act fairly?

Bonus' are almost always discretionary you're never "entitled" to anything in that case.
Short of (anti-)competition laws no business is obliged to act "fair" their only obliged to do as contracted.


Many people do actually wait for their bonus' and then quit. Funny story I heard from one of the bank; One time they delayed the payment of the bonus by a month, so the above people who resigned never actually got it.

amiehall

No, they're not required to pay you if the contract doesn't require them to. My current contract states that you must be employed for the whole bonus period and still employed on payment date 3 months after the period end to be eligible for payment. Basically most bonuses are discretionary and they can do what they want as long as they abide by your contract.

You're right in saying that it can incentivise odd behaviour sometimes, but there was nothing to stop you staying until the day after payment if you wanted to get it...

getmore4less

I think all our bonus schemes specifically said you must be employed at the time of payment AND not on notice to terminate.

However they did pay the bonus when they made redundancies and people were on notice at bonus time("good leavers").

redcard

cool_dude_2000 wrote: »

I.... Which means that anyone can wait until its paid and then leave straight away so it doesn't incentive the right behaviour.

I'm not sure if timing your last day to coincide with the payment date of the bonus is the right behaviour either.

DKLS

Wave goodbye to that 12k!, the golden rule is you resign the day your bonus clears in your bank.

Your best hope is to try and negotiate a bonus, I imagine you would do well if you managed 1.2k.

cool_dude_2000

ok, thanks. The kick in the teeth is that I took on a salary reduction in the year in return for a doubling of the the bonus (which more than compensated the reduction).

mgdavid

getmore4less wrote: »

I think all our bonus schemes specifically said you must be employed at the time of payment AND not on notice to terminate........

the same with the company I recently retired from; I had planned to leave the month it was paid but was tipped off by a colleague so delayed my retirement for 3 months in order to receive it.
The rules were buried in the online staff handbook which forms part of the contract.