Severance bonus 1

[nate2003]

OK,
So I accepted an offer with another company to start probably in next 4-8 weeks (still haven't decided). Today my current company announced that fiscal year is ending in 2-1/2 weeks and we are doing very well and that there will likely be a large bonus payout. (maybe 6-7% of salary) Only thing is that the payout comes the second month after the end of fiscal year, and I might not be here then. I don't know if they could write me a check after I am no longer an employee and I haven't given my notice that I am leaving. My thought was to ask for a severance bonus equal to the bonus payout when I leave. Has anyone ever asked for and gotten a severance bonus? I have been here nearly 6 years and have always been a good employee.

The other option I have is to stick it out here and try to coordinate my leaving with the payout, but that might be longer than either I or the other company want to wait.

"I have had my results for a long time, but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them." Karl Friedrich Gauss

 

[IRstuff]

This is somewhat akin to buyer's remorse. If the announcement had been less favorable and you wouldn't have gotten any bonus, you still would have left and felt that you had a good deal.

So this is irrelevant. If you get something, then great, otherwise don't blow your new deal, and don't leave your old company looking like a money-grubbing job-hopper.

TTFN

 

[TDAA]

Your bonus will be: "Best of luck in your new position. We are sorry to see you go." The type of bonus you describe that is in the works is normally reserved for employees, as incentive to continue to work hard. I would be shocked if your portion was sent to you as a non-employee, and not distributed to the actual employees, or pocketed by the company.

I could just see it now: "You decide your leaving us, and you want us to pay you extra to leave? Get the _____ out of my office, and pack up your desk today!"

Or perhaps they will say: "Thank you for finding a reason for us to incur the cost of hiring a new person. You do deserve a bonus for that."

By the way if you do ask, and get it, please post how you did it on here. I would love to improve my income by switching often, getting pay raises, sign on bonuses, AND severance bonuses.

 

[swertel]

Most bonus plans are written such that you must be an employee at the end of the bonus period. You do not get a pro-rated bonus for time worked during that bonus period if you are not around for the end of it. (You are pro-rated if you are hired into the middle of a bonus period and remain gainfully employed.)

In your case, it definitely depends on how they decide to officially issue the bonus. If you were working there at the end of the fiscal year and it takes 2 months for accounting to cut the checks, you may get one. If you leave one day prior to the the fiscal year, you probably will get a happy life where the grass is greener.

--Scott

For some pleasure reading, try FAQ731-376

 

[EddyC]

Where I work no one gets any severance. When the company no longer needs/wants them, they are told Friday afternoon that they need not come in on Monday morning. This is not even enough warning to pack up their belongings before the workday ends.

 

[BelspringKen]

I would be surprised if they would want to give you something. That money could go to the folks that are staying.

I got left out of a Christmas bonus once, except I was leaving in January, which was after the bonus was being given out. The next position made up for it in pay and experience.

 

[lostsailor]

nate2003,
I would talk to your new employer about delaying your start date and I would also be upfront about the reason. I wouldn't say anything to anyone at your present employer about leaving, if you do, kiss that bonus goodbye. Loyalty number one is to yourself and your family. A former supervisor of mine found himself in the same position and the rest of the people at his level divided his bonus amongst themselves. Go figure.....
Regards,
RLS

 

[JStephen]

Normally, a severance pay is when the company decides to send you packing. I've not heard of one when the employee left- with the exception of early-retirement type buyouts.

 

[Beggar]

If you want the bonus, stay until it's paid. Ethically, that's fine -- you've already earned it. However, to ask for it on your way out the door is a cheeseball move of the first order.

--------------------
How much do YOU owe?

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

--------------------

 

[DaveVikingPE]

You're not going to get the bonus if you leave now. They probably won't give it to you if you tell them you're staying until after the bonus is given out...

 

[MedicineEng]

I was in the same situation, usually my former company would pay the bonus in April's salary. Well, I got a job proposal and I ended up leaving the company in the 2nd week of May ( I gave my resignation notice in April). Did I see the bonus? NO, I didn't even bother to ask.
If it was today would I do the same thing? Most probably. The experience and conditios of the other job were much better.
Of course, if I see just from an employee point of view, I would have deserved the bonus since I worked all the previous fiscal year. By the other way, the company doesn't give the bonus because it is nice, it gives as a way to retain employees and increase motivation.
Frankly speaking, I think that I agree with company's point of view even if in my case I lost most probably over a month's salary.

 

[MikeHalloran]

I once (in 40 years and 30+ jobs) got a bonus almost a year after being laid off. I called the payroll office because I thought they had made a mistake.

Some factors were different from your situation:
- It was an exceptional company.
- I didn't choose to leave, they downsized me.
- It was an individual bonus based on achievement of specific goals. The payroll department administered it, and there was no provision for forfeiture. I don't know if that was intentional, or an oversight.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[SomptingGuy]

I am dumbstruck by the original question...

Why would someone expect a severance payment if they choose to leave employment? Maybe the company should instead demand repayment of any wasted training costs?

 

[Ussuri]

They fire you, you get severence (to sever is not usually a pleasant thing)

You choose to leave, you get nothing.



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"The world keeps turning, it keeps me in my place; where I stand is only three miles from space"
Spiritualized

 

[corus]

A bouns is paid in respect of a past year's work and not in the hope you'll stay in future. If the year in question ends in April and you leave in May then you are entitled to that bonus, just as you are entitled to any future back-dated pay-rises from the time you were working. If you don't receive that bonus then give 14 days notice of intent to take legal action and then sue the company in the small claims court (if you have one in your country). It's cheap and you can claim back the money for taking the action (about £60) along with any pay you are entitled to. In the UK there is also a free citizen's advice bureau where you can take free legal advice if you're not sure.

corus

 

[wes616]

If there is a company that makes severance to the employees that quit... now there is a company that I'd like to work for.

Wes C.
------------------------------
Light travels faster than sound. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

 

[looslib]

Most bonuses are conditional on 2 things.
1) Being employed during the whole time that the bonus award is based on.
2) Being an active employee on the day the bonus is paid.

Expecting a bonus after you have quit is not realistic.

Corus,
Sueing a compnay for a bonus that is paid after you quit is a joke. You have not fullfilled the 2 conditions I mentioned that entitle you to the bonus.


"Wildfires are dangerous, hard to control, and economically catastrophic."

Ben Loosli
Sr IS Technologist
L-3 Communications

 

[HVACctrl]

I was "due" about an $8000 bonus at acompany I had been at for almopst 4 years. I left a couple of months prior to being issued the bonus. Technically, the bonus was for the previous year that I had worked there, so I had certainly earned it. But, there were no rules to the bonus- how, why or the amount were to be determiened strictly by the company and my boss. There was never anything in writing that even said I would ever get a bonus. It was tacked on to my salary after a couple of years just because I had taken on tremendous responsibilities and became a very valuable person in the company.

Because I left, because the bonus was so unstructured and because I knew my leaving would cause difficulties for my boss, I didn't even ask about the bonus- nor did my boss bring it up.

All's well that ends well. I would have loved the $8,000, but to me, it just didn't seem right in my situation.

That said, if your bonus is structured, in writing and applies to work already served, your situation my call for still receiving it. I think it all depends on the particular situation.

Ed

http://www.engineerboards.com

 

[sms]

I would not ask for a severence bonus, that is not going to happen and if you are in the US, don't bother with small claims court, you will loose. But I would politely bring up the situation to the new employer and ask for an equivilant sign on bonus. That was what I did on my last job change and the new employer was willing to give me the sign on bonus.

If the new employer balks, ask about delaying your start date until after the bounus is paid. If he balks again, you have weigh the advantages of staying vs the advantages of leaving.



-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[Ussuri]

I think there is some confusion over bonus and seberance. To my mind a bonus and severance are not the same thing. You get abonus if you have completed good work and the comany want to reward you. Severence is the company trying to sweeten the fact they have just fired you. Its not the same thing. I feel you are entitled to ask for a bonus if you deserve it but not severence pay.