Change of bonus agreement

robert32

Hi there,

Employment law question. I am with a company where I have an agreed position that whilst I'm assigned to particular progress I am paid a bonus of x/month.

This has been stated verbally and put into writing via email. This is not time
bound and is clear. I have, however, not signed any contract variation to back this up.

My employer has now decided they can no longer afford to pay this bonus, even though I am still on the project.

Given job offers are legally biding, even when verbal, can they do this?


Thanks,

R.

pioneer22

http://www.personneltoday.com/hr/changing-bonus-terms-legal-qa/

Where an employer denies an employee a bonus to which he or she is contractually entitled, the employee may be able to bring a claim for breach of contract.

Is your bonus contractually entitled? What does your email say verbatim please.

Edit: also what does your COE say.

TELLIT01

I suppose the other question to answer for yourself is "Is pursuing this worth the potential problems it may create longer term?"
If the employer is saying they can't afford to pay, it suggests they have financial problems which might lead to redundancies. Although it's supposedly a job which is made redundant, those who are seen as 'difficult' might find themselves in that job.

Undervalued

You will need to check all of the terms and conditions very carefully. The vast majority of bonuses are "discretionary" to some extent and this may well give them a get out.

Even if there is a hard and fast contractual entitlement you still need to consider the overall picture before deciding whether to pursue it.

robert32

Given I'm being told that if I want to further my career I should go elsewhere, I'm quite happy to pursue.


Regardless, my question has been a little misinterpreted. The bonus is not formalised by a contract, but has been made clear on an email. The email states the rate and that it would remain in place for the duration of the project. There are no clauses about being able to remove it or any time bound factors.


So, the bottom line is: is the email something that is binding?






R.

steampowered

So, the bottom line is: is the email something that is binding?

Email exchanges can be legally binding in some circumstances. But in other circumstances they are not legally binding.

It depends on what a judge would think. A judge would consider whether a 'reasonable person' would understand the email to set out a legally binding part of your contract or not, and whether the bonus was intended to be discretionary or not.

Attention to detail is very important in legal disputes. If you want to get a clearer steer from people, you need to tell us the exact wording of the email (except for personal details and amounts).

getmore4less

even if contractual they can change it.

Best you can hope for is the bonus to be paid for a notice period.

you could say as this project no longer comes with a bonus you want to change the previous/another project.