Recruitment referral scheme

On the face of it they don't qualify so the grievance is bound to fail (if the rules are as clear as you say)

Have you confirmed what conversation the Senior manager is reputed to have had and why? If they had the authority / status to agree an exception to the rules and committed to it then you may be better to pay....

Hi Valentina,

Really quick question to clarify - you said 'used to' in your first sentence. Does this mean the referral scheme was changed and if so, when/to what?

Also, the employee you mention that left - is this the referrer or the candidate?

Providing this will no doubt help with the answers.

Many thanks,
Laura

The scheme has been changed a couple of months ago saying that we will pay after 3 months of employement (but toi be honest this has not been really communicated, it's more for me to know when I need to process the payments). The employeee was the referrer.

He mentioned we might have paid it. But then the recruitment manager confirmed we wouldn't paid as he was leaving. If he left in the same month he was due to this bonus, should we had paid or not?

A quick update: the Recruitment manager confirmed in an email that the bonus would have been paid after 3 months of employment, so due in November. He handed in his notice on the 16th November and left the 17th November. The candidate is referred started the 24th July. We have decided not to pay because he was leaving. Is this correct? Sorry for alll these questions, but we currently don't have a Head of HR so I need some support!

O so it was the employee who referred the candidate who left not the candidate themselves?

Its down entirely to your rules around if people need to be employed when bonus is paid (for most employers they would need to be)

Thanks for your reply Keith. Yes the employeed who referred the canddate left and we received yesterday a grievance claiming the bonus. It is not specified in Referral scheme if the employee needs to be still employed. We should have been paid in November and he left in November. What would you advise?

He resigned before the candidate completed the three months agreed.

Hi Valentina,

I see three separate questions here.

1. Let's not forget that the complainant is now an ex-employee. Only employees are entitled to the grievance procedure. End of grievance.
2. Should you make a payment? Normally, rules of this type of scheme would be pretty black and white about who needs to still be employed after the initial period. If you have no clear written rules, you could IMHO legitimately argue that when the rules are unclear the plan's operation is at the discretion of the management, and the management has decided that no payment will be made since the person was no longer employed on the 4 month anniversary.
3. You decision on question 2 will probably be communicated by your ex-employee to ex-colleagues. Their reaction to this decision may (or may not) be a problem for the company, and you need to consider what reactions it will provoke.

Whatever you decide, try to tighten up the intention of how the plan is supposed to work, and draft some simple unambiguous wording for the future.

If the rules of the scheme are that you pay after three months of service, then it was due on 24 October, well before the employee resigned. The fact that you didn't process the payment within that time doesn't seem like a good reason to withhold it, if the employee understood it was going to be paid to them and relied on that commitment. Or am I missing something?