Employer refusing to pay annual bonus as stated in the contract

[Lafabe01]

Hi

I am having issues with my employer as below:

1. Annual Bonus

My contract bonus section is written as below:

The company operate a bonus scheme, based on the performance over the year, (1 December to 1 November). Bonuses are paid in the February Pay.

I have been with my employer for 2 years and handed in my notice in December 2020. Prior to that the directors sent out an email to all employees saying that everyone will receive XX amount pay rise and also company bonus which is paid in February 2021.

I sent an email asking if I will be receiving the bonus since I will be leaving however they concluded that I will not be receiving this a I would be leaving on the 2nd of February and the bonus would be paid on the 18th. I challenged this however they started citing new terms and conditions of employment they introduced recently, which I refused to sign which states:

DISCRETIONARY BONUS SCHEME
7.1
The Company may in its absolute discretion pay you a bonus of such amount, at such intervals and subject to such conditions as the Company may determine from time to time.
7.2
The company subscribe to a pay-for-performance philosophy whereby bonuses are tied to three important measures; how well each employee is doing, with respect to their manager's expectations, how well the department is doing in terms of Directors’ expectations and how well the company is doing with respect to its expectations. Under this type of bonus scheme an employee’s actual bonus can range anywhere from half their target bonus to double their target or, in extreme cases, nothing. The assessment of your individual performance will be accomplished through discussions between you, your line manager and the Managing Director.
7.3 7.4
7.5
Bonuses will be determined during the February appraisal and review.
If the Company makes a bonus payment to you in respect of a particular Financial Year (1st Dec to 30th Nov) the bonuses are paid in the March pay.
The Company may alter the terms of the discretionary bonus scheme that may have been sent separately or withdraw them altogether at any time without prior notice.
7.6
The Company will exercise additional discretion in making any bonus payments if:
• You have not been employed throughout the whole of the relevant Financial
Year;
• Your employment terminates for any reason
• You are under notice of termination (whether given by you or the Company) at
or prior to the date when a bonus might otherwise have been payable;
• You are under a current disciplinary sanction


I challenged them that I had been in my post during the qualifying period and also that I did not sign their new updated contract with the above exclusion clause and should qualify however they disagree stating the paragraph below:

We acknowledge that your contract of employment states the following in relation to the bonus scheme ‘(Employer XXX) offer a bonus scheme, based on performance over the year, (1st Dec to 30th Nov). Bonuses are paid in the February pay.’ There is nothing in your contract of employment to confirm that a guaranteed bonus will be payable each year, or indeed the size of the bonus that you could receive. On this basis, irrespective of whether or not you have signed the Terms and Conditions, the Directors will not be awarding you a bonus payment for the 2019/20 financial year.


This appears to me that they are looking for any excuse not to pay as I will be leaving the company because they don’t seem to have an issue paying everyone else except me. I am also challenging them on other payments from 2020 and 2018 where I did not receive correct amounts for my overtime which they seem to have agreed to pay but using words like as a good will gesture.

could anyone please advise how to go around my issue and how to deal with it ?

[MIKE770]

7.1
The Company xxxx may xxxxxx in its absolute discretion pay you a bonus of such amount, at such intervals and subject to such conditions as the Company may determine from time to time. ##note the "MAY" not will ( depends on profits)

[ULA]

In your first contract was there anything else in there in regard the bonus other than "The company operate a bonus scheme, based on the performance over the year, (1 December to 1 November). Bonuses are paid in the February Pay.".

Nothing about it being disretionary or subject to you not being on notice or leaving prior to the due payment of the bonus?

When were you provide wiht the updated contract with the new bonus clause?

Did you let your employer know in writing that you were not happy with the contract? Or was it purely that you did not sign it?

[Lafabe01]

There was nothing else write. About bonus in my contract actual contract to do with bonus or exclusions. Other than said above ( The company operate a bonus scheme, based on the performance over the year, (1 December to 1 November). Bonuses are paid in the February Pay.)

I did not let my employer in writing, I just did not sign it and started looking for another job which I found. The reason for this was because of what I have seeen them do to other employees who disagreed with what they want, how they always like to do things off record and how they treated me when I raised an issue to do with my overtime a few years back which they ignored after speaking to 1 director and 1 manager they totally ignored me, recently I raised another issue to do with my overtime and they responded not very well so I knew my odds and the likelihood of something bad happening to me should I try to challenge this.

i just purely ignored the contract and since I did not agree with it. It said read and sign if you agree and I didn’t agree so I did not sign and no one came to be to discuss anything as far as I know.

[Lafabe01]

My contract was very basic and 2 pages only but the new contract is over 14 pages hence it’s a bit more detailed with all these things I disagreed with

[ULA]

The issue that you have is that you are relying on your old contract, however the company is relying on your new version contract which although you have not signed, you have not gone back to them and said you are not accepting the changes. If you do not tell your employer you disagree with a change, this will be taken to mean that you have accepted it even if you do not sign and return a copy of the new contract.

Although not your strongest argument you could try the tactic of as you say "It said read and sign if you agree and I didn’t agree so I did not sign" and having not received a signed copy the company should have taken this up with you to find out your issues with the contract.