all office got bonus but not in my contract apparently

alkanlelaan

hi everyone


Last week our company released its end of year bonus payments to the staff.


The company that I work for is a FTSE 100 company who employs 100's of people and this year showed huge profits.


Well my boss was handing out the bonus envelopes but she missed out myself and another employee ( this other employee is on the same contract as myself as we started the same day with the same job title) .


When asked why we did not receive one we were told that employees on our level of job ( tier 1 out of a possible 4 tiers) were not eligible for the bonus- although this is untrue as others in the office at the same level receive a bonus. then it was added that tier 1 employees who were recruited externally instead of internally don't receive them.


It just seemed like they were tailoring this condition around us two.


My contract does not state anything about bonuses, other employees, habing spoken to them about their contracts, have the heading 'bonus' and 'eligible or not eligble' in theirs which is why I would of expected something similar in mine.


My line managers told us all year that we were eligible for the bonus and so we were fully expecting one, turs out they should not of been saying that we were able to receive one.


what is your guys opinions on this ? does this seem like its out of line from the company, as it is a company wide bonus not a job role specific bonus so it seems rather peculiar.


I have emailed HR asking if this is a valid reason as it does seem very strange.

Fluffi

It sounds like the managers weren't aware that new people like yourself and your colleague are not eligible for bonuses. Its allowed and fair for newer staff to be recruited on different contracts, e.g. leave allowance and notice periods than existing staff.

I guess there a couple of things that are going on here - a) you are too new to the company to be eligible for a bonus - e.g. under 12 months service or b) like the closure of final salary pensions they've decided not to offer bonuses to all new staff.

alkanlelaan

Hi thanks for the reply


I have been there for 1 year now.


There was a new member of staff joined us a few months back, he is not in this bonus run but he checked his contract when i mentioned the bonus and his has the section saying' bonus- eligible' so that's why im thinking their reasoning of external employees dont get it is not true.


its just that my contract doesn't mention any bonus section that my boss is saying its because im not getting one, but at the same time it doesn't say im not eligible if that makes sense.

asajj

Don't think you are exclusively targeted due to who you are etc but the way they set their bonus structure should be clear and your managers weren't very competent apparently (on this issue at least). I'd speak to HR and also with my manager and explain them that you were expecting to receive a bonus and wasn't aware of this difference within contracts.

You are there for less than 2 years and they can get rid of you without a problem so when doing so, perhaps stay calm and see if you can get this change for the next year.

Also just because someone is eligible for bonus, don't think they have to get one.

WobblyDog

It might be worth raising a polite (particularly given you haven't been there long) query with HR asking whether a mistake has been made. That's what I did when I found that I was eligible for neither overtime nor a bonus, when all my immediate colleagues were eligible for one or the other.

Are you able to claim overtime? Sometimes employees are eligible for overtime or a bonus, but not both.

I'm a bit surprised someone went round the office handing out envelopes - bonuses are handled very discreetly at my workplace.

alkanlelaan

Hi thanks for the replys.

My contract specifies that i am not eligible to be paid for overtime. THe fact that is says what i am not entitled too regarding overtime is why i think it should of been in there regarding a bonus.

I have emailed HR who have told me to speak to my business area, which would be the woman who told me that i was not able to get the bonus already as i was an external tier 1 employee.

Is it out of line to ask if this is a company rule or a department rule. And also for to see this in writing ?

Thanks

asajj

WobblyDog wrote: »

I'm a bit surprised someone went round the office handing out envelopes - bonuses are handled very discreetly at my workplace.

Yes indeed - not sure whether people were handed out them in the office in the middle of everyone though.

OP, go back to HR to say you have spoken to the business area and you are not clear yet and would like to understand the procedure.