Non payment of salary incentives

You have posted that:

--"The same was payable to us - irrespective of the loss or profits made by company. The second part of bonus - not linked to salary - would be paid subject to meeting certain targets."

Both part of bonus are expressed in CTC. What are the conditions expressed in CTC sheet, appointment letter, or any other circular? Which terms is used Bonus or Incentive? Is it mentioned that bonus shall be paid if employee is in employment at the time of disbursement/payout?

--Have you accepted the FNF statement or have you accepted under protest? You may need to produce letter that FNF statement is not correct and you have objected and accepted the FNF amount under protest.

--“The company says that since I was not part of systems during pay out, I am not entitled for the same.”

The company has stated it verbally or in writing?

Have you raised your demand verbally or in writing?

If the amount(s) disputed by you are incentives then you can demand as per eligibility criteria, citing clauses expressed in incentive circular. You may obtain the copy of employee rule book, certified standing orders of the company.

Usually such get resolved on pro rata basis. You may submit a gentle representation by letter under acknowledgment, addressed to good offices of your appointing authority, MD, Company Secretary, Head-HR, and mention that at the time of exit you had asked for the following amounts and you were told that the payout happens in Dec and you have represented to Mr./Ms…………dept……….designation……….on dated……….by phone (mention phone numbers)/email/letter etc, however till date the payouts have not been disbursed to you and the same may kindly be supplied to you as per expression in your CTC sheet etc., by bank DD thru redg. post. You may highlight your achievements, meritorious services rendered by you, and that you have toiled for the growth and business of the company and you should be paid your dues like these have been paid to all other employees of the company in the month of……( mention details).Follow up in writing with good offices.

You may need to apply exceptional levels of persuasion, persistence, negotiation, reasoning skills. Be tactful. Utilize your rapport and goodwill and involve line management and HR. if nothing works, you may approach a competent and experienced service lawyer with all records and merits of your case. Your lawyer may issue a legal notice. This may work. The company has earned profits and may not want bad publicity. Otherwise your lawyer may advice you to approach civil court.

Thanks dear.

Please find my point wise response.

You have posted that:

--"The same was payable to us - irrespective of the loss or profits made by company. The second part of bonus - not linked to salary - would be paid subject to meeting certain targets."

Both part of bonus are expressed in CTC. What are the conditions expressed in CTC sheet, appointment letter, or any other circular? The conditions says that the amount of Rs.50,000/ is fixed & the balance would be paid depending upon the performance of the company – do you need exact wordings?

Which terms is used Bonus or Incentive? The term is used as Performance Linked Variable Remuneration (PLVR)

Is it mentioned that bonus shall be paid if employee is in employment at the time of disbursement/payout? No.

--Have you accepted the FNF statement or have you accepted under protest? You may need to produce letter that FNF statement is not correct and you have objected and accepted the FNF amount under protest. I have not signed any document. After consistent follow ups & stinker mails, the same was credited to my salary account in Aug 2011. I had sent a mail subsequently that my PLVR is yet to be paid, after the same becomes due.

--“The company says that since I was not part of systems during pay out, I am not entitled for the same.”

The company has stated it verbally or in writing? The same has been given in writing in mail. I have asked for a copy of HR policy stating the same.

Have you raised your demand verbally or in writing? – In writing

If the amount(s) disputed by you are incentives then you can demand as per eligibility criteria, citing clauses expressed in incentive circular. You may obtain the copy of employee rule book, certified standing orders of the company – There are no such circulars or employee rule book in place.

Variable pay plan is the strategy of linking pay to performance, where overall pay structure is broken down into various components e.g. basic pay, benefits and the variable pay. The variable pay could be put as a percentage of the whole subject to the performance of the employee e.g. if the employee gets a grade of 2 on a scale of 1 to 4, the variable pay would be 70-80% of the eligible amount and if the employee gets a grade of 1, the variable pay would be 120-100% of the eligible amount.

You must obtain complete HR policy on this. HR can not state that they have devised remuneration/pay structure without any approved policy in place. If HR declines you should approach good offices of the company.

There is certainly a policy as first component of the variable pay/PLVR is linked to individual performance, and the second component is linked to company performance.

There might be another component linked to division/cluster performance, in line with practices followed world over by MNC’s.

If the employee has delivered performance company should pay the amount of remuneration linked to performance.

You have clarified that:

--“Is it mentioned that bonus shall be paid if employee is in employment at the time of disbursement/payout? No.”

Therefore it becomes necessary to obtain HR policy and copy of certified standing orders and employee rule book. Let the company state in writing that there is no certified standing orders and employee rule book. It is suggested that you may avoid communication to HR executives who on their own or under instructions may make misleading statements. All Hr personnel are not authorized to sign on letterhead of the company and affix company seal. Therefore when you address your representations to good offices by letter demanding reply by letter someone competent to sign and affix seal shall make due deliberation on the matter and shall reply by letter. Good offices usually do not prefer to take a blot on company image for petty amounts.

You must demand and Obtain FNF statement and declare that despite reminders it is not supplied and without your acceptance of the FNF full an final settlement can not be recorded as done and closed.

Hope you shall be able to resolve the matter by persuasion and if nothing works you may approach a competent and experienced service lawyer and your lawyer looking into your nature of duties, designation, etc may choose the appropriate forum for you e.g. SE Act, O/o labor Commissioner, Civil court. Your lawyer may prefer to issue legal notice based on the contents of your communications to the company and its reply. If you have not build favorable record your lawyer may structure your representations to the company.