to think my company are trying it on re. my bonus?

[notveryfairatall]

I received a letter stating that 'with effect from 1st July' I would be entitled to a bonus 'which will be paid in the July payroll'. It then states 'please note that you will not be entitled to the bonus if you resign before then'. I resigned shortly after the 1st of July, but assumed that I would still get the bonus as it was 'effective from the 1st'. Just received my pay minus the bonus and they are saying I am not entitled to it. What do you think?

If your last day of service was after July pay day you should be entitled to the bonus, if it was before they won't pay it

I'm not sure that's right Rose. If the Ts and Cs were worded as the company intended then it would probably mean that the bonus would not ne payable even if the employee had given, say 6 weeks' notice so was there until mid August. Harsh, but legal, (I think...)

The last place I worked that had a bonus scheme you didn't get the bonus if you were working your notice at the time bonuses were paid.

What you say in your last update Fair is what makes me think you should go down the this is ambiguous and you wrote it so you created the ambiguity route and see what that achieves. If they are bloody stingy then nothing probably, but what have you got to lose (except several hours of your time and patience...)

Thanks NoSO. I will def try that route as I think it is ambiguous and, like you say I have nothing to loose. My last actual day of employment is after July payroll BTW.

I also read 'then' to mean July's pay date. I get that it's frustrating though OP.

It's not unheard of to pay bonuses to departing, or even departed, employees though. Depends on the company.

My ex employer sent me a bonus a few months ago. Almost a year after my last pay date. And well over a year since I'd done a day's work for them (I was made redundant while on maternity leave).

The text in the letter is ambiguous and you'd be entirely reasonable to challenge. Workplaces tend to do things differently to each other and there's no presumption that your scenario always means no bonus. It could well be an error by Payroll. At my work, you can't get a bonus if you've already given notice by the cut off date. However, if you give notice after the cut off date but before the money is paid, you still get the bonus.
Even if your challenge is unsuccessful, you'll probably respect yourself for standing up for yourself rather than always wondering 'what if'. Go for it.

I understood it that if there is ambiguity in a contract then a challenge is usually awarded to the person who would benefit least from the ambiguity, in this case the OP.

May be worth posting in Legal about it.

Still a bit confused as to why the put 'with effect from 1st July' though, why not with effect from July's payroll?

Because they can. Never ever resign whilst waiting for a bonus until it is safely in your bank account.

I've known people high up to resign once the head honcho has signed off the bonus agreement, only for the head honcho to get it stopped minutes before the account payroll team press 'send'. Most bonuses are discretionary anyway so you'd have to take them to court to get it and even then - you probably won't.