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Recruitment referral scheme

Valentina

Hi

We used to have a referral scheme that it was paying a bonus of 3K gross to employees after 4 months of the referral start date.

One employee refereed a candidate who started the 24th July. The employee handed in his notice and left the 17th November.

The bonus should have been paid in December so we din't pay him the bonus.

We received a letter from him yesterday date 15th November making a formal grievance and asking to be paid the bonus, also because this was verbally confirmed by one senior manager.

Can somebody advise please?

Thanks in advance!

Valentina

  • in reply to Ray
    Hi Ray

    Please see my response to your questions below:

    1. His letter is dated 15th November and his last day was the 17th. Is it still not a grievance, right?

    2. Finally the recruitment manager has handed me some guide lines that says: "If a referral candidate is successfully offered the role, the Referral Bounty is £3,000 (gross). Referral Bounties will be confirmed when a Referral candidate is offered the role and paid after 3 months after the Referral’s start date. Should a referral resign or leave the business prior to this point the Referral Bounty will not be paid". He resigned the 16th October, the candidate started the 24th July. He resigned then before the three months.
  • in reply to Nina Waters
    Yes but he resigned the 16th, before the three months.
  • in reply to Valentina
    Hold on Valentina;

    The referral candidate didn't resign did they - they are still working for you?

    It is the employee who referred them who has resigned.

    They gave notice on the 16th October, and their resignation became effective 17th November? Some of your dates contradict each other...
  • in reply to Laura Fazackarley
    Yes he resigned the 16th and our guidelines say : If a referral candidate is successfully offered the role, the Referral Bounty is £3,000 (gross). Referral Bounties will be confirmed when a Referral candidate is offered the role and paid after 4 months after the Referral’s start date. Should a referral resign or leave the business prior to this point the Referral Bounty will not be paid.
  • in reply to Valentina
    The referral candidate has not left the business.

    The referrer has left.

    Therefore, the referrer is under the impression they are due the bounty (I don't blame them, that guideline is not worded well).

    It is not explicitly specified that the referrer has to be in employment with the company to receive the bounty.

    Working through a timeline:
    - 24th July Referral candidate starts
    - You are claiming the bounty would be due at 4 months, so (roughly) 24th November
    - On the 16th October the Referrer handed in their notice.
    - The referrer left the business with effect 17th November.

    Because they are not in employment when the payment is due on the 24th November you are stating you will not pay.

    Is this correct?

    Now which is accurate - the 4 months or the 3 months because your guidelines replies say different?
  • in reply to Laura Fazackarley
    It used to be four months, but we changed it in July to three. He resigned the 16th October though, before the three months (24th October) so we are fine about not paying, is that correct? Thanks is advance Laura!
  • in reply to Valentina
    There's no grievance to answer, Valentina, because your aggrieved is no longer an employee. It doesn't matter when he raised the grievance. Your company owes no obligation to him to resolve the grievance.

    As a result, this boils down to just one thing: he says you owe him money and you have to decide whether or not you agree.

    If you agree, send him the money.

    If you disagree, send him nothing. He will have to take you to court to demonstrate a legal entitlement to that money (at his expense). You can then decide whether or not you want to fight it or settle. But odds are he won't, as the entitlement is highly debatable.
  • in reply to Robey

    Ignore me...edited this post as I think the policy wording might exclude people who resign - wasn't reading for comprehension!

    The resignation date of the employee who made the referral is not something to rely on - they are still in your employment until the end of the notice period so the effective date for any qualification under your policy is their leaving date in November.

    If they qualified for the bonus in October because the candidate they referred had reached the right amount of service, I would argue that it should have been paid to the referring employee in their final salary - the fact they happen to be working their notice is a side issue.

    If your policy excludes payment to someone working their notice, then fine - they don't qualify but given the information here, you can't exclude them just because they resigned in October.

    You still got a successful hire from this person under your policy.

  • in reply to Ray

    Jumping on the bandwagon here Ray

    I too would be interested to understand where things stand with an ex-employee submitting a grievance. From my limited knowledge I understand that grievance process is for employees but I suspect that it would probably be wise for employers to look at any complaint by an ex employee to check its credence and also ensure that there is nothing where the company is at risk lest the issue rear its head and get taken to ET - is that correct?

    So in this case, amending that policy to reflect the 3 months that was revised as per July might be a start because the wording has caused confusion I expect

    When I was in a similar situation this is what I did and had to speak to ex employee and then his support worker who was able to explain the response to the individual.

    This was several years ago and I must confess that, I was not made aware that ex-employees cant submit grievances