Performance Bonus Denial after resignation

988 votes

An employee who resigned but worked through the performance period may be legally entitled to a pro-rata bonus if the employment contract or handbook does not explicitly disallow it, though recovering it depends on proving the incentive was an earned component of the agreed CTC. Contractual Terms: If the offer letter and employee handbook lack an explicit forfeiture or eligibility cutoff clause stating that resigned employees or those joining after October are ineligible, the company cannot arbitrarily introduce verbal or retroactive rules to deny payment. Pro-Rata Claim: Since you completed the service period up to July 31, 2026 (having joined in November 2025), you worked for over 8 months of the financial/evaluation cycle, strengthening a claim for a pro-rata share of the ₹4 lakh PBI.

Advocate Dhruv. K LawRato