Is it legal? ( not poying xmas bonus :( )

PeakOutput

my dad works for a large company works his ass off and saves them millions every year. he earns a good salary(probably very good i dont know exactly) but its the bonus's that have been allowing a certain lifestyle to be led

year and a half ago they saw all this going to **** and stop paying bonus's to anyone in the company. so he is pissed off he hasnt been able to enjoy certain things for the last year and a half BUT he is more than gratefull for still having a job and if they had of kept paying bonus's to keep the employees happy, those same employees would probably be out of the job right now.

also alot of places give out vouchers as they are tax free up to a point, i find this funny as they will now usually give out 'one for all' vouchers that company makes more than 50% of their profit on people not using the vouchers within 6 months so the company is effectively just giving peoples bonus to this other company and people dont care :rolleyes:

corkgal1981

I work for An Post, we spend weeks paying out bonuses (thats a double week) to social welfare recipients and don't get any bonus ourselves!

Shelflife

Correct me if im wrong but if your working for the govt (an post, etc) your job is secure and your pension is topped up every year and you get the pay deals regardless of how efficient your dept actually is ??

i wouldnt complain about no bonus if thats the case.

Mr Ed

When i went looking for a pay rise earlier this year, after years of none and after working my balls off in particular this year. I was told that my previous christmas bonus was always considered part of my gross salary.

Since i didn't always get the bonus, probably 2 out of 5 previous years, am i entitled to claim for the years when i didn't receive it?

I wouldn't mind but i worked my balls off this year to ensure everything went well which it did and i didn't even get a thank you. Before anyone starts, i certainly wasn't paid for working up to 16 hour days. Its very demoralising and really makes you wonder.

PeakOutput

anyone who asks for a rise in this climate is mad but as regards the bonus if its in your contract that your due this extra payment every xmas no matter what then of course you can claim it. it more likely says its a personal performance and company performance related bonus in which case its their decision when they pay

BostonB

Mr Ed wrote: »

... I was told that my previous christmas bonus was always considered part of my gross salary...

And of course you asked them to clarifiy such a vague comment in writing and in your contract?

corkgal1981

Shelflife wrote: »

Correct me if im wrong but if your working for the govt (an post, etc) your job is secure and your pension is topped up every year and you get the pay deals regardless of how efficient your dept actually is ??

i wouldnt complain about no bonus if thats the case.

I don't work for the government. An Post is a regular company sice 1984. We carry out services for some government agencies and this is because we are contracted to (eg National Treasury). Anyway, history of An Post is not the point here, we all work on contract, 2 people were let go in the last five months and more contracts are not being renewed in January. Our jobs are anything but secure, its up to ourselves to take out a pension and as for 'pay deals'??? Never heard the phrase at work.

MysticalSoul

At least you were told that you were not getting a bonus. I wasn't told, and didn't find out that I wasn't getting it until our last day before the hols. IMHO, that is bang out of order, as it seemed to be a guarantee with the way it was worded into the contract.

homeOwner

The staff in Anglo Irish bank got bonuses and pay rises a few weeks ago.

Obviously their industry isnt suffering.

Oh wait...didnt they get bailed out by our taxes......so I guess we paid their bonuses this year.

Kintarō Hattori

Wow after reading this thread I feel quite chuffed. Working in retail I got a bonus this year (which I wasn't expecting all things considered) of two weeks wages.

ShadowHearth

Well. like i was expeting, we did not get anything. And one thing is even more sader now. "Palas foods" ( our suplier) gave to all chefs a small gift, smallest gifts were: A bottle of wine, new uniform. head chef got alot more ofc.

So our suppliers managed give us some " gift", and we did not got a jack sh*t from hotel owners, not even thank you. And this year was really crazy, i am still on 9 days working streak, some of those days i am working 13.5h hours with 30 min brake.Some days I was finishing at 23:00, and next day i was 6:45 in kitchen again serving breakfast!

When i sow the amount of people we served, i ask myself... Where the hell is that resetion? Hotel did made alot of money... If they will start moaning that they had bad xmas season, they will diserve only a spit in to theyr faces.

p.s mine misses worked only half weak, before xmas, got payed for full weak and 1 weaks wages extra...

BostonB

A lot of business used 9/11 crisis to cut costs when they weren't that badly effected. I'm sure the current recession will be the same.
That said I think most business would be wise to be putting money in the bank at the moment. Who knows what new year will bring.
No point getting a bonus if you're out of a job in a month or so.

dubger

Anyone please help. My contract states that i will be given after a year 3000 Euros bonus according to my performance. I have asked the company to give me the criteria for performance. Never gave me. Now a year passed away. I went to asking them for my bonus. Company tells that it is based on performance. Do i have a claim on my bonus if they havent given me the criteria?

Otis Driftwood

How often did you ask them?

The onus is on you to get this kind of information.

You would probably be wise to talk to a union rep (if you have one) or possibly an employment law specialist about the specifics of your contract.