David Malamatenios is a partner, and Colin Makin, Krishna Santra, Sandra Martins and Melissa Powys-Rodrigues are solicitors at Colman Coyle Solicitors. They round up the latest rulings.
Practical guidance on implementing and managing a discretionary bonus scheme as part of the organisation's reward strategy, including setting key performance conditions.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that, where an employer offers an incentive to employees to secure agreement to variation of their contracts, it is reasonable not to offer that benefit as part of an offer of re-engagement following dismissals for failure to agree.
In Small and others v Boots Co and another [2009] All ER (D) 200 (Jan) EAT, the EAT held that the fact that the employer had stated that a bonus was discretionary did not necessarily mean that it had no contractual effect. The employer's discretion could relate to: whether or not to operate a bonus system at all; whether or not to award a bonus in a given year; or the amount of bonus to be awarded.