Denied Bonus Pay

[gaggz]

Hi

I recently separated from an IT company (on March 9, 2012) where I had worked for 4 years and 9 months. At time of resigning, I was posed in Bay Area, CA.

My question is on annual bonus. My deputation/offer letter says that I am entitled to $10,000 bonus for the financial year of 2011 (Jan 2011- Dec 2011). This year, the bonus payout to my colleagues was @150% so I should have got $15,000; which I didn't. Upon enquiring from HR department, I was told that I had to be on rolls of company on March 15th, which was the day of bonus payout date. I missed this date by a few days as my last day at work was March 09, 2012. My appeals to pay this bonus were turned down.

Here is some more information:

• The rule about "being on payroll on payout date" is not written on offer letter, deputation letter, salary revision letter or previous bonus letters, or in the "US Employee Handbook".
  
• However, at a very obscured place on the HR intranet portal, this policy is mentioned (at least 20 people that I know, including some very senior executives and "long timers" did not even know such a rule is written and were shocked to hear about it). The rule says that the bonus is at descretion of the company (means they could give $zero as well) and that an employee has to be on payroll on the date of payout. The date of payout is not mentioned and this could be in Feb, March, April, etc.

My questions are:

1. Is there a way this rule should have been very clearly told to employees and of course written clearly in offer/deputation letter too?
2. How can such a rule be so "loose"? I mean the date of payout is not even mentioned and and this could be in Feb, March, April, etc. at descretion of the company. This is so misleading.
3. When an person joins a company, he is told about "base" and "Bonus" pay. At a first glance, the package looks great, whereas such rules could give an option to the company not to pay bonuses at all. So an employee feels that he got a bad deal when such things happen.
4. How can an employer not pay us for a bonus for 2011 year when I was on the rolls for the entire year and got a very good performance rating as well from my supervisor?
5. Does California has a law to protect employees in such situation?

I know several people in CA that did not get otherwise healthy bonuses. If something is suggested here that could help us, I am sure we can all get together and proceed further.

State: California

 

[Mass_Shyster]

The rule says that the bonus is at descretion of the company (means they could give $zero as well) and that an employee has to be on payroll on the date of payout. The date of payout is not mentioned and this could be in Feb, March, April, etc.

Since the bonus is at the discretion of the company, they could give you nothing even if you were still employed at the payout date.

Since you had not received the bonus before you left, it's somewhat apparent that you were on the payroll on the date of the payout.

For an interesting discussion on bonuses, see Dove v. Rose Acre Farms, Inc., 434 NE 2d 931 - Ind: Court of Appeals, 1st Dist. 1982 http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2754499943283911642

 

[ecmst12]

Also, those are VERY common provisions of bonus plans.