Complainant

Respondent

Parties

Cathal  Cummins

Irish Branch of Hamilton UK Services Limited

Representatives

  In person

HR Co-Ordinator

Act

Complaint/Dispute Reference No.

Date of Receipt

Complaint seeking adjudication by the Workplace Relations Commission under section 6 of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991

CA-00048686-001

17/02/2022

The complainant was employed by the respondent from February 2021 until 11th March 2022. The complainant notified the respondent of his resignation on 8th February 2022. The complaint submitted to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) on 17th February 2022 relates to the non-payment of a discretionary bonus to the complainant on or about the 25th February 2022 while he was still in the employment of the respondent.

On the WRC complaint form, in respect of the “Pay Complaint Type” the complaint states that the complainant “did not receive the appropriate payment in lieu of notice of termination of my employment”. In respect of the complaint submitted, the only issue pursued at the adjudication hearing related to the non-payment of the discretionary bonus.

Note: It was clarified and accepted at the adjudication hearing that the correct respondent is “Irish Branch of Hamilton UK Services Limited”. This decision reflects the correct name of the respondent.

The complainant is seeking that he be paid the discretionary bonus that was paid to staff on 25th February 2022. The complainant stated that it was his understanding that if he was employed by the respondent on the day the payments were made, he was entitled to receive the bonus. The complainant stated that he was unaware of the clause in his contract that stated he would not be paid the bonus if there was notice of termination in place on the date the payments were made. The complainant outlined in his complaint form narrative that he had overachieved in his role and had provided more notice to the respondent than was necessary to assist in the handover process and felt that he had been treated unfairly by the respondent as a result of the non-payment of the bonus.

The respondent’s position is that the complainant was not entitled to the discretionary bonus on the basis of the contract of employment and staff handbook which provide that the bonus is not payable where there is a notice of termination in place on the date that the bonus payments are made. In respect of notice entitlements, the respondent confirmed that the complainant worked out his notice period and his employment ended on 11th March 2022.

The issue to be considered in the within complaint is whether the complainant had an entitlement to be paid the discretionary bonus that fell to be paid on or about 25th February 2022. The complainant is seeking payment of the bonus.

The respondent contends that, by virtue of Clause 5.2 of the complainant’s contract of employment and Clause 4 of the Staff handbook of December 2021, the complainant is not entitled to be paid the bonus as he had submitted notice of his resignation to the respondent on 8th February 2022 and both documents are clear in relation to the non-payment of the bonus in circumstances where notice of termination is in place.

The respondent’s position is that it has not breached the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 as claimed.

The Applicable Law

Section 5(6) of the Payment of Wages Act, 1991 provides as follows:

(6) Where—

(a) the total amount of any wages that are paid on any occasion by an employer to an employee is less than the total amount of wages that is properly payable by him to the employee on that occasion (after making any deductions therefrom that fall to be made and are in accordance with this Act), or

(b) none of the wages that are properly payable to an employee by an employer on any occasion (after making any such deductions as aforesaid) are paid to the employee,

then, except in so far as the deficiency or non-payment is attributable to an error of computation, the amount of the deficiency or non-payment shall be treated as a deduction made by the employer from the wages of the employee on the occasion.

Clause 5.2 of the Contract of Employment states as follows:

In order to receive a bonus payment, you must be in the employment of the Company on the bonus payment date and a notice of termination of employment, whether served by you or the Company, must not be in effect on such date.

Section 4 (Benefits) of the 2021 Staff Handbook states as follows:

…….

The annual bonus is normally paid by the end of the first financial quarter after the financial year-end. To receive a bonus payment, you must still be employed by the Company on the bonus payment date, and a notice to terminate your employment must not have been served by you or Hamilton.

At the adjudication hearing, the complainant confirmed that he had notified the respondent of his resignation on 8th February 2022 which would take effect from 11th March 2022. He also accepted that both his contract of employment and the staff handbook provided that there is no entitlement to a bonus payment in circumstances where a notice of termination is in place on the date that payments are made.

In all of the circumstances of this complaint, I find that the contract of employment and staff handbook are clear in relation to the entitlement to bonus payments. On the basis that a notice of termination was in place at the time the bonus payments were paid, I find that the complainant did not have an entitlement to be paid the bonus. Accordingly, the respondent did not breach the legislation and the complaint fails.

Having considered the matter and for the reasons stated above, I find that the complaint is not well founded.

Payment of discretionary bonus