Fired, do I need to pay back sign on bonus not contracted ?
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I recently made what ended up being a big mistake in company choice, in part, enticed by promises of several bonuses, one of which was paid.
The paid bonus I had to pursue, as it was based on first invoicing of a project that I was told the company already had, but didn't end up actually having. They paid me the bonus anyway, just prior to finding out they didn't get the re-bid contract. I was never asked to sign any documentation referring to continuing my employment for any period of time. It was never even discussed verbally.
After interviewing as a project manager, and then having my title changed to Project Director, on the offer letter, and then changed again to Director of Operations, with no consulting me first, I was let go after only 2 1/2 months of working for the company as what amounted to a lead tech. They had a lucrative contract which kept the rest of the full time operations employees out of the country for about half the time I was with the company, and when they came back, I was let go. I believe they paid the bonus only to keep me for the time the other employees were out of the country, and then did not have enough work once they were back to afford my salary. Now they are trying to recoup the bonus, and tried to get me to sign that they could recoup half of the bonus by keeping my final paycheck. I was given no counseling that I was in danger of termination, and was performing the duties that were needed at the time, although they were not what I was hired for, as everyone that I would have directed were out of the country and being led by a C-level employee. I entirely revamped their project management system, while also performing the physical work on the three on-going projects around the U.S.
It has been a stark lesson against following the money for me.
As I never have had a sign on bonus before, I didn't even know that many companies make you sign for it, so didn't know it was unusual to pay one without doing so. The company made me sign quite a bit of NDA type paperwork, so they are familiar with legal paperwork.
Now they are sending me letters, and texts threatening legal action.
I believe that I'm under no legal duty to pay back a bonus when I wasn't informed in any way that repayment was expected if fired, or resigning. They are saying there was a verbal understanding of this, but honestly, there was never any conversation about it. I was always told that I was being looked at as being entirely ramped up in six months, as there were aspects of their business that I was not familiar with. They fought my unemployment as well, but my state allowed it due to vagueness of the companies statements.
I'd like to put this behind me, but really can't right now, and believe that the sign on bonus should have been paid to get me at the time, as I was interviewing with some really high powered companies at the time, with great prospects of hire, so the time spent with this company really set me back in many ways.
Any perspectives and advice would be appreciated.
What I can't understand is why the company would expect you to pay back a sign-on bonus when it's circumstances beyond your control, and their management decisions that kept you from doing the job for which you were hired, you were doing what you needed to do under the conditions of work they set up, and they let YOU go.
IMO their trying to recover a sign-on bonus, on the basis of a so-called verbal agreement ( think of the old saying, if it ain't documented, it didn't happen) is just a cheap trick they're trying to pull on you in the hopes of saving some money. IMO I'd call their bluff and let them try and go for that legal action, if it even gets that far.
Best of luck to you, and I'm sorry this happened to you.
They have no legal authority to take back your bonus.m you could actually take them to court to get back your other half of the check. The bonus was part of your package. That means you might have passed on other jobs that paid more because they didn't offer you a bonus. You can't just arbitrarily take back benefits already paid out. The fact they texted you shows you how unprofessional and baseless their claims are.
No, you do not have to pay them back for the bonus and if they try and hold back any part of your check you can take them cleaners because it is illegal.
You don't even have to take them to court. Call your local EEOC office and tell them your previous employers is threatening you.
If they withhold your earnings, the EEOC will really stick penalties and fines to them.
No, you do not have to pay them back for the bonus and if they try and hold back any part of your check you can take them cleaners because it is illegal.
You don't even have to take them to court. Call your local EEOC office and tell them your previous employers is threatening you.
If they withhold your earnings, the EEOC will really stick penalties and fines to them.
EEOC has nothing to do with wage payment unless the OP is exerting a claim of some illegal act due to being a member of a protected class. I believe you mean the OP's appropriate state agency that handles labor.wage issues.
You are right about an employer failing to pay earned wages. Although a company is generally allowed to withhold moneys owed that were over paid in wages, a sign on bonus dispute may not satisfy the specific state laws regarding payment of earned wages.
Find out exactly what office in your state handles these situations and find out the law for how much time they have to pay wages.
Call the HR department of the company and inform them that if you do not receive your final check in full and in a timely manner you will be notifying that state office. Do not engage in a discussion about returning any sign on bonus, that is not relevant to your earned pay. Do not argue with anyone there, just state what you will be doing. Keep a log of all contacts you have made and document date, time, people spoken to and a synopsis of the conversation. Alternately, you could do this by email.
If you do not receive your full pay by the deadline the state has established file a complaint with the state.
I would tell them they are crazy and that if they do not pay you your final check in full you will got to the state DOL and they will make them pay you in full and a whole lot more. There is no basis in law whatsoever about forcing an employee to pay back all or part of a bonus if they decide to lay you off.
You owe them nothing. I would not communicate anymore with them. Let them send anything they want, but don't respond and don't say ANYTHING. IF they file a legal action, then get an attorney. I'd take the bet they won't do a thing.
You owe them nothing. I would not communicate anymore with them. Let them send anything they want, but don't respond and don't say ANYTHING. IF they file a legal action, then get an attorney. I'd take the bet they won't do a thing.
Exactly what I have done for the most part.
When they said they would withhold the first half of the bonus from my last paycheck, I referred them to my state payday law. They had 6 days to pay it before I would have been able to file a payday dispute, they wised up and paid it.
They have had a letter sent from their "outside" counsel, who I find is not even licensed to practice law in my state. He shows on the website to have graduated from Harvard, but the other employee I worked with locally told me he never passed the Bar.
I haven't received anything stating that I'm being sued yet.
I have two offers, and two interviews next week, one of which is with what is likely the #1 employer to work for in the U.S. so I think things are looking up.
There never was a contract. I'm no lawyer, but I thought I had to at least have terms and a right to refuse those terms. They said there were oral terms, but they are fabricating that conversation.
They are wasting more money trying to bluff you. Simply deny it ever happened in a formal letter to their office and ask them nicely to not contact you further on the matter.
They have zero case, good luck in your endeavors. I went through something very similar to you recently.
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