4 ms·

To be fair, most companies in North America would not pay any sort of optional bonus after an employee has quit or been fired. If you quit Dec 31, and the comp

To be fair, most companies in North America would not pay any sort of optional bonus after an employee has quit or been fired. If you quit Dec 31, and the company usually pays out annual bonuses on Jan 30, don't expect a check.

wvenable 15y ago
More to the point: Quit Dec 1st, don't expect a Christmas bonus.
- maaku 15y ago
  No, more to the point: quit Jan 1st, but before you got your Christmas bonus due to some silly delay.
moe 15y ago
The bonus was due before he left the company. Pretty clear cut for me. The conditions were met, they owe him $10k. Maybe not legally but certainly morally.
- pyoung 15y ago
  No, he fulfilled the minimum requirements for the bonus before he left the company, however the company did not specify at what point the bonus was due to him. For example, my company rewards annual bonuses based on the calendar year, however they do not pay out the bonuses until April. If you leave the company between Jan 1, and April, you do not receive the bonus. While it might not be the most moral practice, it is a well established practice.
  - moe 15y ago
    however the company did not specify at what point the bonus was due to him. Of course it did. Quote from the article: the payout was contingent on said employee staying for a minimum of a 6 month period at the position If that's the really the full text of the agreement (which seems plausible to me, I've seen similar e-mails) then there is nothing unclear about that. Even if he had quit immediately after referring that other guy he'd still get the bonus. Period. well established practice. Certainly not around here.
benhalllondon 15y ago
It wasn't an optional bonus thou, it was owed money as a referral fee
deleted 15y ago
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lotharbot 15y ago
My wife left BigCo in January one year. At the end of February she got a prorated annual bonus. Maybe you shouldn't expect it from every company, but there are some that do it exactly that way.
adgar 15y ago
You didn't seem to understand the post. You have it backwards. It's more like that you had a personal bonus scheduled for Dec 31, and your last day was the next Jan 30, and they never paid you.
jsnell 15y ago
I've received a bonus for similar circumstances as in this case six months after I left a job (for a patent application reaching a certain milestone, informally announced bonus scheme, no contract in place). I wasn't expecting to ever see that money, so it was a very pleasant surprise. (The company was Google, which should qualify as an American company even though this happened in Europe. I can't imagine there being any particular Swiss legislation that would have affected this case.)
mikeash 15y ago
If you were promised an annual bonus, and it was due before Dec 31, you had bet your ass you should expect a check. At that point they owe you money. It doesn't matter that you later quit. I can't fathom how people think it does. Can you explain it?

wvenable 15y ago

More to the point: Quit Dec 1st, don't expect a Christmas bonus.

maaku 15y ago
No, more to the point: quit Jan 1st, but before you got your Christmas bonus due to some silly delay.

moe 15y ago

The bonus was due before he left the company. Pretty clear cut for me. The conditions were met, they owe him $10k. Maybe not legally but certainly morally.

pyoung 15y ago
No, he fulfilled the minimum requirements for the bonus before he left the company, however the company did not specify at what point the bonus was due to him. For example, my company rewards annual bonuses based on the calendar year, however they do not pay out the bonuses until April. If you leave the company between Jan 1, and April, you do not receive the bonus. While it might not be the most moral practice, it is a well established practice.
- moe 15y ago
  however the company did not specify at what point the bonus was due to him. Of course it did. Quote from the article: the payout was contingent on said employee staying for a minimum of a 6 month period at the position If that's the really the full text of the agreement (which seems plausible to me, I've seen similar e-mails) then there is nothing unclear about that. Even if he had quit immediately after referring that other guy he'd still get the bonus. Period. well established practice. Certainly not around here.

benhalllondon 15y ago

It wasn't an optional bonus thou, it was owed money as a referral fee

deleted 15y ago

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lotharbot 15y ago

My wife left BigCo in January one year. At the end of February she got a prorated annual bonus. Maybe you shouldn't expect it from every company, but there are some that do it exactly that way.

adgar 15y ago

You didn't seem to understand the post. You have it backwards. It's more like that you had a personal bonus scheduled for Dec 31, and your last day was the next Jan 30, and they never paid you.

jsnell 15y ago

I've received a bonus for similar circumstances as in this case six months after I left a job (for a patent application reaching a certain milestone, informally announced bonus scheme, no contract in place). I wasn't expecting to ever see that money, so it was a very pleasant surprise. (The company was Google, which should qualify as an American company even though this happened in Europe. I can't imagine there being any particular Swiss legislation that would have affected this case.)

mikeash 15y ago

If you were promised an annual bonus, and it was due before Dec 31, you had bet your ass you should expect a check. At that point they owe you money. It doesn't matter that you later quit. I can't fathom how people think it does. Can you explain it?