Question on bonus owed- charity I work for may be closing

trfc20222

Hi all,

I posted about a year ago that the charity I worked for was struggling and there was a threat of redundancies.

At the time they received a notification of a house being left to them which gave them a route through- this is being sold and will be income for the charity in July.

I agreed as a result of this to defer a bonus that was due to me until the house sale goes through- in part as it enabled the charity to carry on.

Fast forward to now and there are rumblings that the charity will not make it until July- its touch and go and that the creditor list for them is higher than the house value.

My question therefore is if it all goes wrong am I protected as its a bonus linked to my salary or am I better to try and force this through sooner. Its for a significant amount- over £5k and was related to me hitting fundraising targets which were all met.

Any advice is greatly appreciated 

TELLIT01

You need to read your contract of employment as most bonus payments are discretionary.  If the charity doesn't have the money to pay the bonus there is little you can do to force them to do so.

trfc20222

Thanks for the reply, yes I thought that may be the case. I had a variation to contract letter signed by the CEO that states after the successful competition of the following targets- and then them listed- I am due to bonus of 5950 within 28 days. I have since had it confirmed in writing again by my CEO when it was agreed to be deferred but as you say its whether that is legally binding which I doubt unfortunately 

General_Grant

Is the charity also a limited (by guarantee) company?

Marcon

trfc20222 said:

Thanks for the reply, yes I thought that may be the case. I had a variation to contract letter signed by the CEO that states after the successful competition of the following targets- and then them listed- I am due to bonus of 5950 within 28 days. I have since had it confirmed in writing again by my CEO when it was agreed to be deferred but as you say its whether that is legally binding which I doubt unfortunately 

Depending on the exact wording it may be legally binding, but the bigger problem is whether the charity actually has the cash. 

It's tough on you if they don't, given you've done your job and hit your targets. Any chance you might be able to get part-payment of your bonus in the very near future, before the house sale goes through?

It's important to establish if this is actually a contractual right - from what you've posted I think it might be. If it is, and the charity goes bust, you may be able to claim at least some of it: https://www.gov.uk/claim-redundancy

General_Grant said:

Is the charity also a limited (by guarantee) company?

Won't help much if it is. The members' liability is invariably limited to a tiny amount - usually £1 a head - so you'd need a huge number of members to ensure all debts were paid.