Excluded from Company Bonus at Termination

[nsam0001]

Hi all,

It's my first time writing here but I hope I get it right.

I resigned my position in February, with my last working day was meant to be the 5th of March. HR assured me that I would receive the annual bonus (which was paid out in March).

As I started my notice period, my line manager told me that I had a lot of accrued leave from the earlier year, and that I should take it. So I did, and I left the company in the last week of February.

Much to my disappointment, my bonus was never paid. After a few months of chasing up with HR, I finally got a fraction of the money (which pertained to an apparently missed payment prior). When I inquired with HR why I wasn't paid my actual bonus, they told me that my employment with the company was terminated in February, on my last working day, and that meant that I would forfeit my annual bonus as my leave was paid out on the day of my termination.

Am I right in thinking that I was technically still employed, seeing as I only shortened my notice by virtue of taking the leave I was owed? Or did I mistake, and subscribe to the most expensive week of my life?

I would really appreciate some guidance here, as I don't know what to do right now.

Thank you all.

[thedirtyhound]

My understanding would be that your holiday period actually counts as part of your employment, so the day you left would technically be when the last day of your period of leave. However, I think the key issie is that you raised the question of your bonus with HR and they assured you that it would be paid to you. You were obviously mindful of your entitlement to it, which is why you sought to clarify it. You therefore relied on their representations, otherwise you have have possibly been able to delay your departute date for a few days/weeks longer. I would write to the company and set out your position in writing. I would then give them say 14 days to pay up, failing which you will issue a legal claim. What sort of figure are we talking about? My ex used to work for a major bank and her bonus could sometimes be as much as 10% of salary. The sums can often be quite significant!

[ULA]

@thedirtyhound is correct in regard to the fact that your holiday period counts as your employment.

However I would just ask you the following did you get confirmation in writing from HR that they would honour the payment of your bonus? If so make sure you detail that in any correspondence you send to the company. Secondly were there any policy/guidelines around the payment of the bonus? I know that may schemes have a clause in them that they will only be paid if the employee is still employed and not working any notice at the time the bonus is paid out - so if for example the bonus was paid at the end of March with salary and you left on 5th March then they may argue, under the rules of the scheme, that you would not be entitled to the payment. If that is the case then your discussion with HR, hopefully confirmed in writing, will help in supporting your view that you were expecting it to be paid in full and should be added into any correspondence.

[nsam0001]

Hi thedirtyhound and Ula ,

Thank you so much for your replies.

To answer the first question, while they don't clearly state how much the bonus is (as they judge it on contributions of IP to the firm's knowledge base), my bonus would have been around ~4% of my salary. I am working this out based on a colleague who left a week after me (i.e. didn't take his vacation leave) and got paid the money.

The policy guidelines are as such: the bonus was meant to be paid earlier in the year but was postponed (company-wide) from January to March without explanation. Upon receiving the e-mail, I asked whether I would be eligible for the bonus or not given that I would be leaving in March. HR assured me that I would be.

There is, however, a major caveat. I did had gotten all this in writing in an email sent to my office e-mail address, but forgot to back it up. So while the e-mail does exist (in my old e-mail account and HR's outbox), I don't have access to it.

[ULA]

I presume then that the amount you have been paid is a "way short" of 4% of your salary, however since its seems from the description that it is assessed on an individual basis in terms of your contribution to the IP then this may vary from your colleagues.

In regard to the correspondence can you remember what date you were sent the confirmation in writing from HR that you would still be eligible for the bonus?

If so then I suggest you write to your previous employer stating that on xx date you received confirmation that you would be receiving your bonus. Refer to the payment you have already received, however you believe that this is not the full amount due. I would also detail the fact that it was your line manager that suggested that you used up accrued holiday to form part of your notice period and that in fact

your holiday period counts as your employment.

[nsam0001]

Thanks Ula. I know the month but not the date, and I don't know whether that would be enough to hold up with them. What do you think?

[ULA]

If you don't have the exact date then yes try with the month of the correspondence.