Do you keep your end-of-year bonus if you are dismissed?
In Joint Committee 200, yes, as a pro rata, as long as you have six months of seniority and are not dismissed for serious misconduct. The pro rata is one twelfth per full calendar month worked in the year. Other sectors have their own rules, set by their joint committee.
The rule is much stricter if you resign: you then keep a pro rata only after three years of seniority. The details are in how the end-of-year bonus is calculated.
What happens to your holiday pay?
You receive exit holiday pay on your last payslip: 15.34% of the gross pay earned in the current year for white-collar employees, plus any amount still due for the previous year. It is owed whatever the reason for leaving, including serious misconduct.
Your employer also gives you a holiday certificate. Your next employer uses it to reduce the holiday pay it owes you the following year, because part of it was already paid. The mechanism is explained in what holiday pay you get when you leave a job.
How are bonus and benefits counted in a notice indemnity?
They are part of its base. A notice indemnity covers your current pay and the benefits you are entitled to under your contract, a collective agreement or established practice, as the SPF Employment specifies. Variable pay, such as a bonus that depends on results, is counted at its average over the previous 12 months.
If you work your notice instead, you keep receiving your salary and benefits as normal until the end, and the bonus is calculated when the contract actually ends.
What should you check on your final payslip?
Four lines: the last salary, the exit holiday pay, the pro rata end-of-year bonus and, if relevant, the notice indemnity with its benefits. A bonus that depends on objectives is often the line that goes missing, especially if the objectives were never formally assessed.
If something is missing, ask your payroll provider or HR in writing, and keep your contract and payslips from the previous year as reference. A notice indemnity or outplacement may also apply, as explained in who is entitled to outplacement. Then turn to the next step and look at the IT and engineering roles currently open.
