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Binding or not
Legal Forum
Binding or not
Discuss employment-law issues such as family leave, overtime, disabilities law, harassment, immigration and termination.
Hi Everyone,
Last year at this time we gave certain upper mgmt sales people letters awarding them retention bonuses of $25K to "be paid sometime within the year period". Well, unfortunately, one of t
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Binding or not
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Binding or not
posted at 4/7/2010 12:49 PM EDT
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Posts: 18
First: 9/22/2006 Last: 4/21/2010 |
From the information provided, it sounds to me like the bonus was awarded/earned ("congratulations" etc.) when the letter went out, but would be paid later ("to be paid"). In that case, it would be owed regardless of when the employee was terminated. |
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Binding or not
posted at 4/13/2010 10:10 AM EDT
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Posts: 267
First: 6/29/1999 Last: 4/13/2010 |
Just came across this article which may provide you with more information. It's not inclusive of every state and situation but does bring up some good points http://www.troutmansanders.com/lespring2010-04/ |
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Binding or not
posted at 4/13/2010 10:20 AM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
The article refers to bonus "plans", not to an ad hoc granting of a bonus as originally described.
In the OP's case, a promise was made to pay a bonus sometime within the "next year" for exceptional performance the previous year. The bonus was earned and there were no requirements or conditions placed on payment of that bonus. You're right in that jeanneb's company should have thought about a more formal bonus plan arrangement or at least placing conditions on payment of that bonus. Hopefully, jeanneb's company will keep the article in mind going forward even though they've seemed to be remarkably resistant to any good management practices thus far. |
Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Binding or not
