Performance Bonus Criteria

Curious Sue

We are evaluating a change in our bonus structure and a question came up regarding paying a bonus at the end of the year if an employee has not used all their accrued sick leave.

Our sick leave policy provides the employee with six days each year with the ability to roll over up to 15 unused days from year to year (there is no pay in lieu of unused time).

Would providing a bonus for not using the accrued time be construed as discriminatory in any way? Thank you.

Gillian3

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 12-08-05 AT 11:43AM (CST)[/font][br][br]You will get a better response if you put this in another section. As far as your question goes, I don't think that it is discriminatory, unless the outcome ends up being skewed towards one group getting bonuses more than others. I am not sure that is it a good idea, though. You will end up with good employees not getting a bonus because they were unfortunate enough to get sick - the message that you will send is that being at work when you are sick, or being a mediocre employee is more important is more important to the company than being a good employee. Consider paying off unused sick pay as an alternative, but even there, that will encourage employees who are sick, and should stay at home, to come to work and get everyone else sick.