Employer bonus - only selected employees

@OP - you probably need to get a response from someone like amigafan (former union rep who seems to know a thing or two about employment law). I'm not entirely sure the "company can do whatever it likes" brigade are correct, think the real answer may be a bit more complicated than that ;) I don't know though so it'd be inappropriate to comment further.
 
Jokester said:
Or so employers would want you to believe. There's a reason it's pushed that you keep pay/bonus to yourself - it stops employee's finding out they're being ripped off! OP if you think you deserve better look for another job.
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It stops jealousy.

There is no reason to expect people to earn the same money for doing the same job, everyone's personal history is different. If someone applies to a job and aces the interview but has a high salary expectation then the company is fully allowed to ay that employee far more than others in order to hire such a good employee.
 
Scort said:
My mistake, never worked anywhere with a bonus system - including current employer, and it seems to me (on face value) that they have pulled this bonus out off the air on this occasion, considering myself and other have seemingly met the same criteria numerous times before; and been given nothing.

Maybe it's just a new scheme they've come up with, but the cynical side of me (knowing the people behind it) is saying 'no way'.

Oh well, I'll take it as the kick in the teeth it feels like, won't bother to question it tomorrow.

Thanks for the info folks :)
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You said in the OP that the bonus was for working when you had some time off.

There is your answer right there. Maybe they had to work extra hours to cover for you, maybe some crisis happened when you were gone and they sorted it out in a timely manner

Or maybe they have just been working there longer than you, or clock in more hours, or meet more targets, or are friendlier in the elevator, maybe they wanted to leave but the boss bumped their salary and gave them a bonus.


There are any number o reasons why some people would get a bonus and other not. That is the whole purpose of them.

If you feel that you are being unfairly treated then gather your evidence and approach your boss
 
To echo the comments above, your employer can give anyone a bonus they wish as long as they haven't refused giving a bonus to someone on discriminatory grounds (e.g. all the men got one but women didn't).
 
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A lot of uninformed opinions in here... employers are not free to discriminate, no matter how many times they use the word "discretionary." However this isn't a get-a-free-bonus-card either, as you just might not be as worthy of a bonus as your colleagues are. "Random" is not a word in an employer's vocabulary. They will have picked those employees for a reason. Did they perform better than you? If not, you may well have grounds for a discrimination tribunal. If you can be bothered.
 
D.P. said:
It stops jealousy.

There is no reason to expect people to earn the same money for doing the same job, everyone's personal history is different. If someone applies to a job and aces the interview but has a high salary expectation then the company is fully allowed to ay that employee far more than others in order to hire such a good employee.
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Stopping jealousy is precisely it, it's just another form of control of employees. The best paid workers are rarely the best employee's, they're the ones that threaten to leave, don't accept the first offer or first offer of salary increase or play golf with those that make the decision.

Keeping everyone in the dark, just means the good guys don't realise that the crap guys are actually being paid more, but just know how it really works to get into that position.
 
Wow - my most popular post :D

Think I should have made it a bit clearer in my OP with a bit more detail...

We don't get a bonus, never had, no bonus scheme or performance incentive has ever been introduced; one doesn't even exist in fact.

I went off with stress after many years of problems at work, things I have posted here before - in a nutshell I rubbed the new manager up the wrong way about three years ago, when I dared to point out that they were wrong about something. I thought it was water under the bridge, but over the years people have told me this manager is after me, and to date I have managed to fend off three attempts to get rid of me - that last I won an official grievance against the company that saw that attempt quashed.

I never wanted to go off, but it wasn't until the GP referred me to counselling that it hit me, how much the place was affecting me - it had me and my wife in tears several times before that though; so I should have twigged it then! But back then, as now, it is my salary that is keeping us.

I took a total of three months off, during this time, the departments workload stayed pretty much the same - the company continued the practice of pulling resource from elsewhere, and they also had a couple of contractors in; ex employees... add to that a new starter as well. By comparison, when someone went off for two months with stress last year, the resource levels were similar to those recently.

Assuming there is any truth in the comment I was shown, that the payment is for two of the team 'coping during the stressful time', then surely it's no different to what I and the others went through last year, as the workload and resource levels between those two events were pretty much the same.

It's this last point I have issues with, as I feel it is unfair, and surely an employer can't just do what they like when they like - how is that keeping things fair, keeping an equilibrium in a small team?

As for the payment being made on the basis that I need to 'up my game' as someone put it, I'm the longest serving member with the most experience (might not matter), and cover three different roles, and have continually exceeded all targets - so other than giving my own time up (we don't get overtime); I can't see what more I can do?

Long and short of this though, I know I need to get out of there, people on here have told me that before - as have friends, family, my GP, the counsellor and funnily enough; a company appointed GP.
 
You shouldn't be bothered about a bonus.
I opted out of our bonus as a total bum licking grassing ding bat kept getting
the lion share of the bonus.( He is a total nasty slimmy little git)
But i did have a word about my normal wages and got a nice pay rise.
But you do need to your worth in the work place and be ready to walk if need be.
 
mhvcbv said:
You shouldn't be bothered about a bonus.
I opted out of our bonus as a total bum licking grassing ding bat kept getting
the lion share of the bonus.( He is a total nasty slimmy little git)
But i did have a word about my normal wages and got a nice pay rise.
But you do need to your worth in the work place and be ready to walk if need be.
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But, by giving out this bonus out of the blue (bear in mind the company have never done so before) and only to selected employees, they are surely discriminating, if it turns out everyone got it bar me; then they are discriminating against me and that is not fair - as I posted, the shoe had been on the other foot and no such bonus came about.
 
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Dj_Jestar said:
A lot of uninformed opinions in here... employers are not free to discriminate, no matter how many times they use the word "discretionary." However this isn't a get-a-free-bonus-card either, as you just might not be as worthy of a bonus as your colleagues are. "Random" is not a word in an employer's vocabulary. They will have picked those employees for a reason. Did they perform better than you? If not, you may well have grounds for a discrimination tribunal. If you can be bothered.
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Very helpful post, thank you.
 
Do you get any Bonus if other people are off, have you or any other ever had one, is there anything in your Contract about such a Bonus?

Your Employer may have left themselves wide open to legal problems if they've done this purely out of spite, do some research, see if you can get why the bonus was given in writing somehow and then make an appointment with your local CAB or a Solicitor who specialises in Employment Laws.
 
It is almost definitely not worth giving it a second thought over £150 if you hate the job and want to leave. ACAS probably wouldn't be that interested.
 
It does sound like you're drawing the short straw. Even if you go back to the manager quoting the "equality act", i'm sure they could just as easily come up with some evidence to justify why some of your colleagues earned a bonus and you didn't. I think this is one of those times were you do get a kick in the teeth, but you know you'll be out of there soon so hold your head high.
 
There is nothing untoward with discretionary performance related bonuses being paid to individuals. Being off sick can and does impact an individual's ability to earn such bonuses and it is not considered discriminatory to use sickness levels as a determining factor in bonus schemes.
 
Yes, they can do this but it's a perfectly good reason to leave the company and seek work elsewhere.

This is why paying bonuses is an absolutely stupid idea for any job that doesn't have a strictly measurable target that is clearly dependent on employee ability.
 
Jokester said:
Stopping jealousy is precisely it, it's just another form of control of employees. The best paid workers are rarely the best employee's, they're the ones that threaten to leave, don't accept the first offer or first offer of salary increase or play golf with those that make the decision.

Keeping everyone in the dark, just means the good guys don't realise that the crap guys are actually being paid more, but just know how it really works to get into that position.
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If someone is terrible at negotiating that is their problem, they should get jealous at someone negotiating higher salaries. If you have the evidence to support a higher earning potential then go speak to HR.
 
Scort said:
But, by giving out this bonus out of the blue (bear in mind the company have never done so before) and only to selected employees, they are surely discriminating, if it turns out everyone got it bar me; then they are discriminating against me and that is not fair - as I posted, the shoe had been on the other foot and no such bonus came about.
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Only if they didn't give a bonus to select people because they were black/white/old/foreign/women/gay/straight/men/Muslim/catholic/Jew/pastafarian/tall/short/fat....

Otherwise employers can freely differentiate between staff and reward anyone they believe has a performance deserving of a bonus. As long as everyone has equal opertunities then there is no discrimination.
 
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