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MEET THE TEAMThe decision of Bluestones Medical Recruitment Ltd v Swinnerton (UKEAT/0197/18/BA) highlights that in certain circumstances an employee can be found entitled to a bonus despite his or her employment contract containing a discretionary bonus clause.
Mr Swinnerton was an employee who had been internally promoted to General Manager of Bluestones in 2015. He was employed under a contract that included a clause relating to a discretionary bonus which provided that any bonus to be paid was at the complete discretion of the company.
In February 2017, Mr Swinnerton was suspended pending a disciplinary investigation. He was subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct. Bluestones indicated that payments had been made to Mr Swinnerton as loans to be repaid by him from dividends when he became a shareholder. There was some documentary evidence supporting that these payments had been made as loans. Mr Swinnerton argued these payments were bonus payments to which he was rightfully entitled on the basis of a previous agreement with management.
At first instance, the ET concluded that Mr Swinnerton was entitled to receive the bonus ‘by virtue of custom and practice’ and by reason of previous discussions with management. It found that an agreement had been struck with Mr Conway (former Managing Director of Bluestones) that Mr Swinnerton would be paid 6.5% of the business operating profit.
Bluestones appealed the decision to the Employment Appeals Tribunal.
On appeal, the EAT provided guidance on the relevant considerations to look at when considering discretionary employee benefits including bonuses. The EAT confirmed the following:
The EAT outlined the potentially relevant factors as follows:
The EAT ultimately found that the ET had failed to address the factors identified in Park Cakes v Shumba. It therefore remitted the matter back to the ET for the unauthorised deductions claim to be considered afresh.
Employers
If employers intend to make bonus payments to employees at their discretion, contractual clauses need to be properly drafted to reflect this. However if what is contained in the contract differs from what happens in practice, it may be that an employee has a stronger claim to enforce the payment of a discretionary bonus.
Employees
If employees wish to challenge the non-payment of discretionary bonuses, the onus is on employees to establish that an express term for discretionary bonuses has been varied.