Bonus clawback question Forum

[Anonymous User]

I quit my job a while back and received a letter saying I had to pay back my bonus. I was in-house (if that matters). It’s been nearly 10 months and I haven’t paid it back. Is there a chance the company just forgot? My bonus was 10,000, which is pennies to the company.

Can the company send it to collections? I haven’t received any calls about it.

I want to pay it back, but I’ve been having a difficult time finding a job that provides me with the ability to pay it back.

[QContinuum]

Did they give you a deadline for paying it back? If it's a reasonably large company (and I assume it is, given they have in-house attorneys), it almost certainly has its books professionally kept, and it's extremely unlikely they'd "just forget" about a missing $10k.

Whether they'd send collection agents after you is a different story. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if they did. Do you know if your company ever uses collection agents in other contexts? If they already have collection agents on retainer, that would seem to "improve" the odds of them adding your name to the list. Even if they don't send collection agents after you, they might seek to garnish your wages down the road once you find another gig.

Do you agree with their determination that you have a legal obligation to repay the bonus?

[Anonymous User]

Did they give you a deadline for paying it back? If it's a reasonably large company (and I assume it is, given they have in-house attorneys), it almost certainly has its books professionally kept, and it's extremely unlikely they'd "just forget" about a missing $10k.

Whether they'd send collection agents after you is a different story. It wouldn't entirely surprise me if they did. Do you know if your company ever uses collection agents in other contexts? If they already have collection agents on retainer, that would seem to "improve" the odds of them adding your name to the list. Even if they don't send collection agents after you, they might seek to garnish your wages down the road once you find another gig.

The deadline was in January. I don’t know if they’ve ever sent bonus-related pay to collections.

[Pneumonia]

You should plan on paying it back when you can, but it would shock me if they sent it to collections without reaching out at least several more times.

Also, I'm not even certain they can send it to collections. (Maybe they can, I'm just not sure.)

The press for suing/collecting a non C-Level employee to recover a relatively small bonus that the employee good-faith refuses to pay would be pretty negative. Or at least it could be.

Same reason that firms often choose not to sue clients for unpaid bills.

[jarofsoup]

Are you contractually obligated to pay it back? I am not really sure what gives them the right to claw back an at will employees bonus. Especially if up did not sign something when taking it.

[Anonymous User]

Are you contractually obligated to pay it back? I am not really sure what gives them the right to claw back an at will employees bonus. Especially if up did not sign something when taking it.

I signed a contract regarding the clawback.

I’m trying to save up to pay it back.

[Anonymous User]

I quit my job a while back and received a letter saying I had to pay back my bonus. I was in-house (if that matters). It’s been nearly 10 months and I haven’t paid it back. Is there a chance the company just forgot? My bonus was 10,000, which is pennies to the company.

Can the company send it to collections? I haven’t received any calls about it.

I want to pay it back, but I’ve been having a difficult time finding a job that provides me with the ability to pay it back.

I think others have given more information than I can offer but I’m curious why you quit without a job lined up. It seems like this is more common in biglaw than in-house, so if it isn’t personal I’d love to know what drove you to that decision.

[QContinuum]

The press for suing/collecting a non C-Level employee to recover a relatively small bonus that the employee good-faith refuses to pay would be pretty negative. Or at least it could be.

Per OP's posts, it doesn't sound like any refusal to pay would be in good faith.

Sure, it's possible the firm never seeks to collect. We can't really know for sure, although maybe the fact the firm hasn't acted yet is encouraging.

Same reason that firms often choose not to sue clients for unpaid bills.

It's not uncommon for firms to send collection agents after deadbeat clients (though usually there's a large number of attempts to get the client to pay voluntarily).

[Pneumonia]

Per OP's posts, it doesn't sound like any refusal to pay would be in good faith.

Sure, it's possible the firm never seeks to collect. We can't really know for sure, although maybe the fact the firm hasn't acted yet is encouraging.

I read it as though OP just didn't have the money right now. He says he wants to pay it back once he can.

It's not uncommon for firms to send collection agents after deadbeat clients (though usually there's a large number of attempts to get the client to pay voluntarily).

Right, and it's also not uncommon for firms to just eat it.

I think we agree, though, that it's highly unlikely the firm would send this bonus to collections without at least initiating a conversation with OP.