Payment of bonus act

RICHA (FINANCE MNGR) (27 Points)

24 October 2016  

A profit making company (having >20 employees) pays all its employees variable pay as part of their CTC.

Say for example an employees' package is 7.2 lacs (i.e. 6.5 lacs fixed & 70k as variable pay)

But the monthly Basic amount is 19k and there is no DA being paid.

Now the employee is claiming his statutory bonus under the said Act since his basic salary is <21K. Hence he is claiming maximum bonus of Rs.22k, i.e. cumulative for FY 14-15 & 15-16.

But the company has taken a stand that - since we are paying performance linked variable pay, hence there is no additional liability under Payt of Bonus Act.

How far is the contention of the employee or employer correct.

Also, if the Bonus is still payable, whether employee has any option to file a claim against the Company & through which forum?