Legal Question in Employment Law in Georgia

Re: Annual Performance Bonus

I agree that the contract or employee handbook would determine if you are entitled to the performance bonus.

However, I disagree with the purpose of the performance bonus. Performance bonuses are given as an incentive to do good work through a given period. It really has nothing to do with maintaining employees for the upcoming year. Therefore, if the contract states that you are entitled to the bonus and the employer refuses to give you the bonus simply because you left after performing your obligations under the contract, you should think about taking the company to small claims court (depending on the size of the bonus you earned).

Re: Annual Performance Bonus

We do not know the terms of your contract or other agreement regarding the bonus. However, generally, and absent a specific agreement, bonuses are purely discretionary up to the minute a check is handed to an employee. It is certainly reasonable to believe the employer will not give a bonus to an employee who resigns, since one of the main reasons for bonuses is to keep employees, and keep the happy.