Murrieta, CA asked in Employment Law for California

Q: Am i entitled to my annual performance bonus after i was terminated?

Is annual performance bonus considered as discretionary bonus?

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3 Lawyer Answers

A: Probably not. If the bonus is discretionary the employer can decide whether you pay it or not. If you can prove that you were wrongfully terminated, you may still be entitled to the bonus.

A: Whether an annual performance bonus is owed to you depends on facts not included in your post. However, most such bonuses have conditions that must be met in order for the employee to be eligible for the money. One common condition is that you need to be with the company at the time the bonuses are paid out.

To get your answer you will need to determine the terms and conditions of the bonus program and take them to get a consultation with an employment law attorney.

Good luck to you.

A: Maybe. It depends. Now these are typical attorney answers. Mr. Pederson is correct that you need to provide your bonus terms to an attorney for review in order to see what you can actually recover. Sometimes the "performance" has been completed, such that the termination is an obvious attempt to prevent you from receiving your earned compensation. I had a case with 6 salesmen that had a very complex set of bonuses in a written agreement "that could be modified at any time" by the employer. The employer attempted to modify it after the end of the fiscal year and after the salesmen all had earned their bonuses. That didn't work. Best of luck.

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