Advise on dealing with previous employer

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Topic Author
doon
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue May 27, 2014 9:25 am

Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by doon »

My DW joined global multinational Firm A in 2015. Within 6 months of joining A another big multinational Firm B took the Firm A over. A lot of firm A members were let go but my DW was given an option to stay on till Dec 31, 2017 to see through the merger & integration and in return they will guarantee a certain percentage of her base within 30 days of her last day which was Dec 31st 2017.

I am not a lawyer but the agreement for that retention bonus was pretty straight forward. Stay till the vesting date and we get the bonus unless of course there is a breach or policy such as some criminal act, breach of firm policy etc.etc.

So far the firm has been generous and fair in dealing with all the previous employees. But the HR's behavior has been less than ideal. DW has received all the severance, end of year 401k match etc on time. However they have not given the retention bonus yet ( which is a fairly big chunk of change). After couple of emails to HR in which my DW copied her group head, they responded that the payment will be made in the next pay cycle which will be in another 2 weeks.

It seems they may have genuinely forgotten to run this through their payroll company but still it sounds like negligence on their part.

Should I be worried? Is there something I should do other than wait till next pay cycle.

Additional context - the retention bonus agreement was separate from all the other documents that she received before leaving the firm and their was no mention of retention bonus in the severance agreement.Severance document was given to her in Nov 2017. The retention bonus document was given to her in early 2016
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clutchied
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Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 11:11 am

Re: Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by clutchied »

sounds like you've done what you need and they have agreed to pay it.

wait 2 weeks. If it isn't there present the contract, wait 2 weeks. Not there? Hire an attorney.
mouses
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Re: Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by mouses »

I would wait the two weeks.

However the NYTimes had an article on some plant in the US where the about to be laid off workers were promised money if they would train their replacements for Mexico. Not a nickle appeared. It did not say if they had paperwork about that money, however.
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mhc
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Re: Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by mhc »

There are state laws on when employers must pay their employees. While you are waiting the two weeks to see if the money comes, brush up on your state laws.
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soccerrules
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Re: Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by soccerrules »

I would wait until 2/15 and see.
You could send am email and ask for the dollar amount of the retention bonus. Essentially "what will I be paid ?" " What amount was sent to payroll to payroll to process?"
No reason to panic right now.
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Topic Author
doon
Posts: 165
Joined: Tue May 27, 2014 9:25 am

Re: Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by doon »

soccerrules wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 9:57 am I would wait until 2/15 and see.
You could send am email and ask for the dollar amount of the retention bonus. Essentially "what will I be paid ?" " What amount was sent to payroll to payroll to process?"
No reason to panic right now.
Thanks!
The dollar amount was specified in the agreement. It was a X% of base at the time of agreement. So there is not issue with that. Also the agreement spells out that it should be paid no later than 30 days of vesting date (Dec 31st 2017). It doesn't say business or non-business days.
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Pajamas
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Re: Advise on dealing with previous employer

Post by Pajamas »

I would be very aggravated but not worried.

Did the agreement provide any penalties for breach for the company?

If she doesn't get the check when promised, you could contact the legal department at the company and let them know there is a problem. Often they will be proactive in resolving a situation that could open the company up to liability.
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