Quarterly Bonus Program changed - Is this legal?

[macmovieman]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

The company I work for Conway Freight has a quarterly bonus program and made some major changes to the plan 30 days into the 90 day quarter and told us they are going to now backdate the bonus program. The very changes they made are keeping me from an $11k payout. If they were to start the program from the date they changed the bonus and told us they would finish out the last 60 days under this new bonus program I will be able to be paid. Is this legal for them to make this change one third of the way into the bonus program and then backdate it? Please help learn more about this or point me in the right direction? I do not know what to do...

 

[ecmst12]

Since a BONUS is never required, it is always at the company's discretion and they can change the requirements any time they wish.

 

[macmovieman]

Since a BONUS is never required, it is always at the company's discretion and they can change the requirements any time they wish.

I understand they can change the bonus program but can they backdate it 30 days into the quarter? This seems very underhanded.

 

[cbg]

It depends on the terms of the bonus agreement. There's nothing in the law that prohibits it.

 

[macmovieman]

It depends on the terms of the bonus agreement. There's nothing in the law that prohibits it.

If you told someone you were going to win a car if you did "X" during a period of time and then changed it the day before the period ended that would seem wrong to me especially for a $6B company.

 

[Zigner]

If you told someone you were going to win a car if you did "X" during a period of time and then changed it the day before the period ended that would seem wrong to me especially for a $6B company.

Ahhh, so you don't want to know if it's legal, you want to say that you feel it's not fair.

 

[macmovieman]

Ahhh, so you don't want to know if it's legal, you want to say that you feel it's not fair.

I am considering getting a lawyer and or contacting the labor board and would like to know if I have a case. We were told we had to be at 100% quota, and have X amount in new business. I have the 5th highest sales out of a company with 400 outside reps yet they added a new hurdle that was set out of reach and now no one if going to get paid. I would say there is a total just under 1M they will "save" by making this change for the quarter. The fact that they are backdating this seems illegal.

 

[cbg]

Okay. One more time.

You are not going to find a law that says, "Employers may not backdate changes to the bonus program". No such law exists.

It is POSSIBLE that the terms of the bonus agreement itself make such a prohibition. But we cannot tell you that because we have not read the agreement.

Any case you have is going to be based on the wording of the agreement and whether or not it is determined to be contractual. There is NO LAW that says what you want it to say.

 

[macmovieman]

Okay. One more time.

You are not going to find a law that says, "Employers may not backdate changes to the bonus program". No such law exists.

It is POSSIBLE that the terms of the bonus agreement itself make such a prohibition. But we cannot tell you that because we have not read the agreement.

Any case you have is going to be based on the wording of the agreement and whether or not it is determined to be contractual. There is NO LAW that says what you want it to say.

Thank you for your answers. I will look at the original agreement to see what it says regarding changes or lack thereof. It is hard to give everything to your company and then have them take $11k away in the blink of an eye. I feel sick now...