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Employer withholding money

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bighouse1

Junior Member
PA
I am looking for some advice. I worked for a company that worked a schedule of 8 days on and 6 days off. My area just experienced a terrible flood which affected my In-Laws greatly. One lost his home and the other had 5 feet of water in their basement. This happened the day after I got back from my shift, one day before I was scheduled to leave on my shift I called and asked if I could have one shift off to help deal with this issue and I would be ready for work the following shift. Since I was the primary person helping clean up their houses due to their disabilities and they were forced to stay with me at my home. My employer has stand-by crews to this exact situation. My employer said if your not going to show up your fired. We get performance based bonuses per shift, they are now refusing to give me two of my bonuses that I earned because they say I am not an employee anymore and those are for employees of their company. Even though I earned the bonuses while I was an active employee. Also they are saying that I quit and not fired because I refused to show up for my scheduled work.
I believe that I am entitled to the bonus money. I was working hard during the shifts in order to receive a big bonus.
 


cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Whether you are or not depends on the exact wording of the bonus agreement. This is not a matter of employment law - employment law doesn't give two hoots if you ever get a bonus or not. This is a matter of contract law, and no one here has read the agreement. Take any documentation related to the bonus to a local attorney for review.
 

ESteele

Member
If the bonus policy is not written, you may want to look at your pay stubs to establish the company’s practice of paying bonuses.

If you did all of the work in order to be entitled to the bonuses, your employer is obligated to pay you. I believe in Pennsylvania -- as in most states -- under state law bonuses are considered wages which have to be paid timely following an employee’s separation from the employer.

You should consider contacting the Pennsylvania Department of Labor (“DOL”) to file a complaint for withheld wages.

As an aside, your employer may be liable for statutory penalties for wrongfully withholding your bonuses. You should inquire about the said penalties with the DOL staff and/or look into this issue on the agency’s website.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
If the bonus policy is not written, you may want to look at your pay stubs to establish the company’s practice of paying bonuses.

If you did all of the work in order to be entitled to the bonuses, your employer is obligated to pay you. I believe in Pennsylvania -- as in most states -- under state law bonuses are considered wages which have to be paid timely following an employee’s separation from the employer.

You should consider contacting the Pennsylvania Department of Labor (“DOL”) to file a complaint for withheld wages.

As an aside, your employer may be liable for statutory penalties for wrongfully withholding your bonuses. You should inquire about the said penalties with the DOL staff and/or look into this issue on the agency’s website.
You really ought to stop guessing. That's all this post is...a guess.
 

ESteele

Member
The OP stated, in relevant part: “We get performance based bonuses per shift, they are now refusing to give me two of my bonuses that I earned because they say I am not an employee anymore and those are for employees of their company. Even though I earned the bonuses while I was an active employee. Also they are saying that I quit and not fired because I refused to show up for my scheduled work. I believe that I am entitled to the bonus money. I was working hard during the shifts in order to receive a big bonus.”

In response to the OP and the other posters, I stated (1) if the bonus policy is unwritten, he can establish the bonus practice by producing his old pay stubs; (2) his employer is obligated under state law to pay bonuses as wages soon after his termination; (3) his employer may be subject to statutory penalties for failing to pay him the bonuses; and (4) he should contact the PA DOL regarding said bonuses and penalties. What part of this response constitutes a guess?

Back to the OP, even if the employer has a written policy that it will withhold bonuses if an employee quits, he will still want to contact the DOL. Most, if not all, states frown upon employers failing to pay its employees promptly for work they have performed. If the OP earned the bonuses, the employer will likely have to pay them irrespective of the existence of a contrary written provision.
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
Well, to start with, I would like to see the PA statute that treats all bonuses, across the board, as wages that are guaranteed. And I would like to see the PA statute that guarantees that all such bonuses will be paid even after termination. And I would like to see where the poster said that there was nothing written about these bonuses, because if there is written documentation as to when they are paid and when they are not, then your answer about unwritten bonuses does not apply.
 

ESteele

Member
What?!! That is borderline preposterous! What “Blue” State does not statutorily include bonuses as wages?

FWIW, the PA Wage and Collection Law states the following:
"Wages." Includes all earnings of an employe, regardless of whether determined on time, task, piece, commission or other method of calculation. The term "wages" also includes fringe benefits or wage supplements whether payable by the employer from his funds or from amounts withheld from the employes' pay by the employer.
Section 2.1 of the Wage and Collection Law. This PA provision is similar to the analogous provisions in most, if not all, of the Blue states.

With respect to a written policy, cite a decision from any Blue State in which an employer’s policy allowed it to withhold a former employee’s earned bonus by virtue of his quitting his job. I even doubt that this would be legal in a “Red” State.

As a matter of state law, the existence of a written policy will not foreclose the OP from recovering a bonus which he has duly earned.
 

OHRoadwarrior

Senior Member
If bonus criteria is not written, it may be part of the employers practice to only pay it to employees working an entire week. What good would the incentive be, if an employee worked hard a few days to get a bonus, then slacked off, the rest of the week, due to fatigue. OP's pay stubs do not make the issue cut and dried.
 
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ESteele

Member
The OP stated: “I worked for a company that worked a schedule of 8 days on and 6 days off. My area just experienced a terrible flood which affected my In-Laws greatly. One lost his home and the other had 5 feet of water in their basement. This happened the day after I got back from my shift, one day before I was scheduled to leave on my shift I called and asked if I could have one shift off to help deal with this issue and I would be ready for work the following shift.”

I read the foregoing as meaning he finished his eight day shift; the flood occurred on his second day off; he worked on repairing flood related damage for four days; and he called his employer on his final day off to request a scheduling change. I did not read his post as indicating he did not complete his last 8 day work shift.

In addition, the OP stated his employer would not release the bonuses because he was “not an employee anymore,’ not because he failed to finish the shift in which he earned the bonus.

Again, if the above assessment is accurate, he should contact the PA DOL to inquire about obtaining his withheld bonuses and the commensurate penalties from his former employer.
 

mlane58

Senior Member
What?!! That is borderline preposterous! What “Blue” State does not statutorily include bonuses as wages?

FWIW, the PA Wage and Collection Law states the following:
"Wages." Includes all earnings of an employe, regardless of whether determined on time, task, piece, commission or other method of calculation. The term "wages" also includes fringe benefits or wage supplements whether payable by the employer from his funds or from amounts withheld from the employes' pay by the employer.
Section 2.1 of the Wage and Collection Law. This PA provision is similar to the analogous provisions in most, if not all, of the Blue states.

With respect to a written policy, cite a decision from any Blue State in which an employer’s policy allowed it to withhold a former employee’s earned bonus by virtue of his quitting his job. I even doubt that this would be legal in a “Red” State.

As a matter of state law, the existence of a written policy will not foreclose the OP from recovering a bonus which he has duly earned.
I believe you purposely left out the following:

"Fringe benefits or wage supplements." Includes all monetary employer payments to provide benefits under any employe benefit plan, as defined in section 3(3) of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, 29 U.S.C. §1001 et seq.; as well as separation, vacation, holiday, or guaranteed pay; reimbursement for expenses; union dues withheld from the employees' pay by the employer; and any other amount to be paid pursuant to an agreement to the employee, a third party or fund for the benefit of employees."
 

cbg

I'm a Northern Girl
You're kind of missing the point, ESteele. I have seen plenty of legal bonus programs where the employee had to be employed on the day the bonus was distributed to be eligible. At one point, my then-employer was even sued for such a bonus - and the employee lost. That was in Massachusetts - one of the bluest of blue states.

The point is that we have no clue at this point whether there was a written agreement or not; or, if there was one, what the agreement says. I'm not as sure as you are that a performance bonus is included in the statute included above, but even if it is, the wording of the agreement matters.

The poster may be due his bonus; he may not. We do not have enough information to say for sure. And anyone who says he does, is guessing.
 

ESteele

Member
Everyone here is restricted by what the OP states. In this instance, he appears to have indicated that he worked his shifts, he earned his bonuses and his employer fired him.

In contrast, at no point did the OP state the bonuses were contractually linked to his remaining employed with his employer. That is less than a guess. It is idle speculation.

Based on the original post, the OP appeared to do all of the work necessary to earn the bonus, and his employer terminated him. If anyone can cite a published decision in which an employer prevailed in denying an employee his bonus under analogues circumstances, please cite it. I have never seen such a case.

More fundamentally, the recommended course of action for the OP remains sound: contact the PA DOL.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
In contrast, at no point did the OP state the bonuses were contractually linked to his remaining employed with his employer. That is less than a guess. It is idle speculation.
Yes, you did guess (hell, idly speculated). You made an ASSumption based on NO information.

Furthermore, you INTENTIONALLY mislead folks by posting snippets of information that support your position, but leave out the balance of the information that could cause you problems. That is a sure-fire way to lose credibility.
 

ESteele

Member
It is so easy to criticize anonymously and offer nothing of substance! If I am incorrect about PA law here, then cite to the purported correct provision or precedent which indicates bonuses are not considered wages under these circumstances.

Until you point to anything, you are like Michele Bachmann pulling your opinions out of your ASSumptions.
 

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