Can an Employer Demand You Repay a Bonus Received Before You Give Notice

The would certainly be enlightening. If the employer wanted to sue to get "his" money back, what legal authority would he cite?

OP, please confirm just for security's sake; it is my understanding that you did not at any time sign anything that indicated this bonus was predicated on your remaining a year with the company. Is that the case? Because if it is not the case, and you did sign something, my answer will be the same as the other two.

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Quoting Boston75

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I was so unhappy at my job and had felt that I was being underpaid and so I asked my boss for a raise in August. I asked for the raise to come as an addition to my monthly paycheck but my boss insisted that he provide the raise all at once in a lump sum of $4000+. I never signed anything ever regarding this bonus and it was basically just given to me so that I would stay at the company. I had no intentions of leaving at the time.

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One type of bonus rewards past performance. Another kind of bonus is a "retention bonus", paid as part of an agreement that the employee will not quit for a defined period. You seem to be conceding that this bonus was forward-looking, essentially a raise paid in advance, but that you should be able to keep it upon resignation. Your employer pretty clearly regards it as a retention bonus which you must repay because you didn't stay as agreed. One other possibility is that your lawyer is characterizing the payment as an advance on your wages, and not as a bonus at all. You may be able to find out how your employer characterized the money by examining your paystub or electronic records of the paycheck for the pay period in which you received the bonus.

As nothing is in writing, you are at something of an advantage because it is very difficult to determine what the understanding is between the parties when the agreement is entirely oral, and also because your employer would have the burden of proof. Absent his reaching an agreement with you, your employer appears to have the options of suing you, of quietly accepting his losses, or of accepting his losses and potentially explain to anybody who asks him about it in the future that you quit weeks after taking a retention bonus (or large advance) and wouldn't return the money.

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Quoting Boston75

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Also- if he thinks I am in debt to him I assume he is also not planning to pay me for the two weeks that I have worked since giving my notice. Is this legal? What are my options?

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If you're not paid, you may file a wage complaint.

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Quoting cbg

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Why don't either of you show me the wage and hour law that permits the OP's employer to require for the money back, barring an agreement that it will be returned if he does not stay for a specified period of time?

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Is the question whether there is such a law, or whether the employer might try to sue (despite poor odds of success) in the absence of such a law? If the employer sues, the employer will have the burden of proving an agreement pursuant to which part of the money is to be repaid. There may or may not be some documentary evidence of an obligation to repay in the form of payroll records, emails and the like.

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Quoting Bubba Jimmy

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The would certainly be enlightening. If the employer wanted to sue to get "his" money back, what legal authority would he cite?

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Possibilities include breach of contract and unjust enrichment, depending on what legal theory the employer chooses to pursue.

Ya, what K said.


And as as we all know many verbal contracts are fully enforceable so I go back to my original statement;

it it depends on the purpose and intent of the payment and how it was treated.

A lot depends on exactly what was said regarding the bonus and we don’t know that. However, in the states where I practice, the employer (even if it is a very small one) would be at distinct disadvantage here in not having a written agreement that says you are obligated to repay if you leave before you’ve worked some additional period of time. Moreover, the employer could not deduct anything from the salary you are now due for the work you’ve done in order to recoup the $3,500 unless the employer had an agreement in writing from you allowing the employer to do that. Very likely, if the employer wants the $3,500, it will have to sue for it, not deduct anything from the pay you are due.

Yeah, what Tax said.

Hi Cbg,

I did not sign anything, at any time. I never signed a contract to start working at this company and never signed one for any bonus.

Is your answer still that I should keep the bonus and that I am also entitled to my two weeks pay since giving my notice?

You would be due the two weeks if you worked the two weeks but not otherwise.


Signing or or not signing a contract in itself is not the determining factor here. While it makes it more difficult for the employer to successfully sue you by no means does it mean they won't be successful.

Hi Jk,

So, if I go in Tuesday morning I will have to ask "Are you planning to pay me for the past two weeks?"

IF he says no, should I say ok and just walk out or should I say that I am owed that money by law?

This situation is complex. Ugh.

There's no need to assume that he's not going to pay you. If he does not pay you for work you've actually done, you have legal recourse. There are NO circumstances whatsoever under which he can legally not pay you for work you've done, and presumably he knows that.