Legal Question in Employment Law in New York
Eligibility For Bonus
I received a yearly bonus on 12/15/2001 for the year 2001. In my contract, it stipulates that I must be employed on the payment date to be eligible for said bonus. The payment date is defined as ''on or about April 1 of the following year.'' My question is, does the payment date become the date the payment was made to me, or am I obligated to work through April 1 to be legally eligible. The paragraphs of the contract pertaining to this are below:
(a) You are entitled to receive as a bonus, a pro rata share of the Bonus Pool (i.e., if 8 Founders are participating in the Bonus Pool, you shall receive 1/8 of the Bonus Pool) for each year during which you are eligible. Each annual distribution, if any, will be made on or about April 1 of the following year (the ''Payment Date'').
(b) With the exception of Year One, 2000, you must be employed for the entire calendar year in order to be eligible for your share of the Bonus Pool for such calendar year and you must be employed on the Payment Date to be entitled to such bonus.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Eligibility For Bonus
Based upon the language that you quote from the contract, it would appear that you must be employed by the company on April 1 in order to be eligible to receive your bonus. Naturally, there may be other relevant provisions in the contract that are not quoted in your question, which might affect the answer to your question. However, based upon the language that you do quote, it appears that you are obligated to continue your employment until April to receive the 2001 bonus. Good luck.
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