Advice required regarding contract amendments, and how!

[rash_decision]

Hi all,

Looking for a little advice before seeking legal opinions on something please.

I resigned from my current position a couple of weeks ago, and my boss has told me that I will forefeet any bonus for 2020.

In my contract terms and conditions, it clearly states that I only forefeet any eligibility on the bonus scheme if I am put on garden leave. I've been told clearly that I will not be put on garden leave as they need me to work my notice period. My opinion, naturally as it's in my interests (Haha) is that therefore, no garden leave, bonus entitlement is mine!

In speaking to HR, they tell me that employees need to be 'employed' by the company on the payment date in April. I asked about this as was never defined to me or set out in my contract. Apparently there is some document on our company portal saying as such.

Our company name changed a few years ago, and I still have a contract with the original company, no mention of contract amendments verbally, written or otherwise, but it seems some changes came about after the name change. It seems that those now employed by the new name have different terms and conditions.

It seems pretty grey to me, and obviously would like the bonus that I worked hard for in 2020. Advice would be appreciated, as there's a few bob involved. I couldn't postpone things and had to accept the other offer and move on, I guess what will be will be.

I guess my question ultimately is, can a company merely place a document on a shared portal that supersedes a contract already in place without notification or leading employees to this/these documents or agreement?

[parabolica]

Is your bonus contractual, or non-contractual? If n/c then yes, they can administer the bonus as they see fit including putting the T&Cs on their portal and not requiring someone's explicit acceptance of said T&Cs. If your bonus and its T&Cs are listed in your contract explicitly then that's a different story.

Everywhere I've worked that has had bonus it has been non-contractual - I'm pretty sure contractual bonuses are pretty rare these days but I guess it'll vary depending on industries. Always a good idea to looking into this kind of stuff before you go ahead with resigning.

[rash_decision]

parabolica said:

Is your bonus contractual, or non-contractual? If n/c then yes, they can administer the bonus as they see fit including putting the T&Cs on their portal and not requiring someone's explicit acceptance of said T&Cs. If your bonus and its T&Cs are listed in your contract explicitly then that's a different story.

Everywhere I've worked that has had bonus it has been non-contractual - I'm pretty sure contractual bonuses are pretty rare these days but I guess it'll vary depending on industries. Always a good idea to looking into this kind of stuff before you go ahead with resigning.

Thanks, it's non contractual, so probably had it then. Thanks for the reply.

[PorkInsider]

rash_decision said:

In my contract terms and conditions, it clearly states that I only forefeet any eligibility on the bonus scheme if I am put on garden leave. I've been told clearly that I will not be put on garden leave as they need me to work my notice period. My opinion, naturally as it's in my interests (Haha) is that therefore, no garden leave, bonus entitlement is mine!

I had a contract in a previous company that was somewhat similar, but in my case the bit about gardening leave pertained to whether or not you're actually earning bonus whilst working your notice - e.g. if I had 3 months notice to work but was put on gardening leave, I wouldn't earn bonus in that 3-month period. If I worked through the notice period I would earn bonus.

But... I still had to be with the company on the bonus qualifying day that year to actually get paid the bonus I'd earned.

Maybe yours is implying something similar with regard to earning/not earning bonus depending on gardening leave.

[rash_decision]

PorkInsider said:

I had a contract in a previous company that was somewhat similar, but in my case the bit about gardening leave pertained to whether or not you're actually earning bonus whilst working your notice - e.g. if I had 3 months notice to work but was put on gardening leave, I wouldn't earn bonus in that 3-month period. If I worked through the notice period I would earn bonus.

But... I still had to be with the company on the bonus qualifying day that year to actually get paid the bonus I'd earned.

Maybe yours is implying something similar with regard to earning/not earning bonus depending on gardening leave.

Yeah sounds very similar. The terminology states 'if on gardening leave...............you are no longer eligible to participate in any bonus scheme'. My argument, would be that I have competed the bonus scheme for 2020, which we've already been told is in the bag, and this would relate to now, 2021.

I'll see what they say, it's worth me asking but not gonna make too much noise. Maybe quote my contract terms and see what I can establish. In speaking to some colleagues this week it looks like there's quite a few different contracts for similar roles and worded differently.

[Sy1441]

Every bonus scheme I've been part of and also the one for employees for my company are exactly like this. Bonus won't be paid if you're either working your notice or have left at the scheduled payment date.

[anonymous-user]

This is why we used to see so many resignations the monday after the bonuses hit bank accounts. If you resigned, before it was paid out, you wouldn't see a penny.

[CharlesElliott]

Yes - the couple of times I have resigned at that time of year I have just waited for the money to be in my account. Or got a contractual guarantee from my new company to pay my bonus instead.