Retention bonus
So last month I had my annual comp review. My manager tells me they're going to keep me where I'm at. I complain to some key people and a couple weeks later get notice that the company will be giving me a $15k "spot" bonus to "show appreciation for my contributions" to the company. Ok, better than nothing I guess. Anyway, a couple weeks later, I get an email to sign a contract to accept my bonus. I open the contract and it states that I will be getting the bonus as a lump sum in my next paycheck and since it is compensatory, taxes will be withheld. Then I get to the part where it says that if I leave the company for any reason in the next 12 months, I am responsible for paying back the entire pre-tax amount of $15k. WTF?! So rather than being a "spot" bonus for previous work completed, I'm getting a retention bonus with ridiculous terms. I contacted the people team to verify that I read the contract correctly. Me: "So I'll get around $8k after taxes and if I decide to leave in 11 months from now, I have to pay back $15k?". Them: "Yeah, that's correct. You can work with your tax guy to try to get the withheld amount back." So I didn't sign the contract. The "bonus" left a me with a very bad impression of the company. Fast forward a week and the people team reaches out to me telling me that payroll already processed the bonus and asking me to please sign the contract before payday otherwise they would have to claw back the bonus. I tell them I'm not signing the contract and then I don't hear anything back from them. This was a couple weeks ago. Today someone else on the people team reached out to me and asked me to sign the contract. I told her the same thing I told the others: that I wouldn't sign the contract because of the outrageous terms. What's everyone's thoughts on this situation? I never signed the contract and let them know beforehand that I had no intention of signing it and they still deposited the money in my account. Now I expect them to try to claw back the funds but I am not authorizing them to pull funds from my account. Am I overreacting? This whole ordeal has caused me to totally lose respect for the organization and make me want to quit and work somewhere that appreciates me.
I agree that’s sounds shady but if you don’t plan to leave take it
I am planning on leaving now. Screw them.
Actually, the week I got the contract I decided to reply to a bunch of recruiters and now I'm close to accepting another job.
Shady af
You are overreacting to the taxation portion. If they give you X, then you would need to return X. Taxes are on your end to figure out; but the short answer is you would just credit back the amount you paid in taxes to your return. Net net, you don’t owe tax on money you return. Now if you are just upset that this was a retention bonus with stipulations versus an actual performance bonus, then sure, feel free to be salty.
Correct. You don’t lose anything here - you’ll get it back on your tax refund
Right but I never agreed to the terms of the bonus and yet they deposited $8k anyway. Now they want to pull back $15k from my account. What if I had a $0 balance and then they deposited the $8k and withdrew $15k? Now I'm negative $7k?
Now that you have lost respect for the company, find a good job & quit before they force you to sign the contract.
This is just unprofessional on their part, to say the least. If I was you, I’d just let them get their money back and clarify that you’re not going to accept the terms. Look for another job meanwhile because you have got your hint. If they really want you they will give you a promotion instead or something else.
Also, why not authorizing them to take it back? That makes look shady.
You need to gtfo there
This is common and likely the only way to get you a one time bonus. No one actually goes after you for 15k if you leave the company. This must be your first job ever?
Haha, nope. 12 YOE
Then first bonus?
Organizations that treat employees like shit and refer to them as "resources" should get the same treatment in return. Tell them you are considering the contract and keep them hanging. Then just disappear when you get your new job. You don't deserve to be treated like shit. Same goes for companies that interview candidates for the heck of it with no intention of moving them forward in the interview process. Start interviewing for fun and sharpen your interviewing skills. Treating the relationship between the employee and the employer as nothing but a contract and removing the human element from the equation has gone too far and employees need to give it back to the employers. More power to you buddy!
Damn!