discretionary bonus paid for 3 months then terminated illegal ?

[wuzzy]

Hi all hope someone can help with advice, I received some great news at the beginning of this year. My Manager had secured a bonus scheme which would see me get a commission for every unit sold, this ran for 4 months and paid out every month with the corresponding claim sheets and sign offs from all departments.
Suddenly my MD ( a very contentious fellow ) decided that he had never agreed to this bonus and it would no longer be paid out. I have calculated that since then I have missed out on over £8000 of bonuses.
Not only is this a bit of financial loss for myself I took out a HP finance based on my elevated income as I knew this would be paid every month.
Is this worth taking through ACAS and a legal claim ?.

Thanks in advance

[ULA]

Re: discretionary bonus paid for 3 months then terminated illegal ?

What details were given around the bonus scheme - operation, payment, notice to withdraw etc?

Most bonus schemes are expressed to be discretionary. Such schemes will usually include a form of criteria (such as the achievement of individual, team or company targets) for determining the amount of the bonus, but will always reserve the right to the employer to decide whether those payments are actually made.

Since you mention in the title of your post it being a discretionary bonus payment it would be subject to the discretion of the management and therefore is something that could not be considered as guaranteed.

If a bonus is paid regularly over a period of time then it may be considered as custom and practice and become an implied term of the contract, however the period that this was paid would in my view be too short to be considered as such.