Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I was a manager at an Irvine California based company for ~9yrs. As manager I was provided a quarterly Incentive package that paid 45d after the quarter closed. I recently resigned from my position at the end of Q3. It has been 45d since Q3 closed and I was expecting to receive my IC. I have been informed that I will not be receiving payment for the work I completed in Q3, and stated that I needed to be employed at the time of payment. So even though I performed the work, they state they will not pay as I am not there when payment was made. Can they do this? They state there policy reflects this. When asked to get a copy of the policy I was informed �No� as I do not work there. Do I have a case here? Just doesn�t seem right � and appears to be an accounting issue that is impacting me here.

Asked on 11/20/13, 2:51 pm

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Unlike salary, wages or straight commissions, which must be paid once earned, incentive packages may be tied to continued employment, either directly as a "retention bonus," or indirectly by tying performance bonuses to continued employment. But the rule for ALL compensation is that it must be paid in accordance with the terms of the compensation agreed on at the time the work was done. No retroactive reduction in compensation is allowed. So the long and short of it is that it depends on the terms of your compensation package, specifically the terms of the incentive package. That would have to be reviewed to give you a real answer as to whether it is legal for them to have that policy or not. In other words, the policy had to have been in effect at the time you did the work, not after the fact, and only a review of your terms of employment and any relevant employee manual terms or other written policies will say whether it was or not.

Answered on 11/20/13, 2:59 pm

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