Can I sue for wage theft?

I’m resigning for AIG but HR said I won’t get my bonus that I earned in 2021 b/c I won’t be on the payroll by the time it’s disbursed.

I already completed my annual review & got excellent marks so why can’t they send me the check when it’s time to disburse. They actually said my PTO won’t be paid off until a couple of weeks so how is that any different?

I’m not asking for anything more than the target which is literally included as part of my 2021 salary on Workday & AIG finances are publics so it isn’t like the company performed any worse than the past years when I was getting above the target.

My manager said I would have to work till the end of Q1 but what does 2022 have anything to do with what I did in 2021?

The company that I signed with has a policy against moonlighting thus don’t want to risk it & I put in my 2 week notice right before the STI email went out stating it would be disbursed in February as opposed to end of March like I had assumed.

P.S. I basically did the work of two people for the past 2 years & am leaving b/c I’m severely underpaid by industry standards. (They would have never laid me off with severance) I trained my replacement & finished all my tasks thus I’m leaving on good terms. The issue is HR being an A-ho-e about technicalities….otherwise the director is willing to work with me.

Btw, what happens to the STI pool money if it doesn’t go to me? Does the manager pocket it, disburse it evenly amongst my former colleagues or does HR adjust the pool based on headcount until the last minute so PZ can enjoy a fancy dinner?

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16 replies (most recent on top)

To be fair OP said they thought the bonus was coming in March not Feb.
You do have to be an active employee and that's pretty standard everywhere.
If you get laid off companies pay it, but maybe they have to? Other you could lay everyone off on 12/31.
Since it's a matter of days, You could try to extend your start date at New Company. Extend your leave date here.
How much money are we talking after taxes? That would decide the amount of effort I would put into this.

I’m sorry but you couldn’t wait till STI was paid out to resign? I mean i understand you want to leave but come on dude.. this is a rookie mistake and it sounds like you’re no rookie. It’s hard to back you up on this situation.

Lol oh wow you really f* this up. You tell your new employer and wait til it hits your bank account to resign.

If they fire you, you get the bonus. If you voluntarily resign, you don’t get it unless you’re active on payroll the date the bonuses are paid.

Better check into this. I left the last day of the year 2019. I absolutely got my bonus the following March. If you work the entire year prior you get your bonus.

I agree that this person is out of luck. But if STI is a "bonus" and not part of wages, take it out of the TDC calculations.

When AIG compares wages to competitors they include sti targets in their tdc comparisons. That's not a fair comparison for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it allows AIG to say it pays fair wages even though a large portion is often times not guaranteed. It allows AIG to adjust your tdc in any way they see fit every single year.

You can't have your cake and eat it too AIG. Wait a minute, you can if you are an executive at AIG.

Yeah. You don’t have a chance of getting
STI if you leave voluntarily before t get Feb 25 payout.

You're kidding right? Of course you're not going to get any bonus if you leave the company. You're no longer an employee. By the way, a bonus is not wages.

After putting notice, Can one put vacation days off to be technically in payroll to cover a part of notice period, so he can become eligible for bonus ?

Unless you have a big sti or are willing to fork over a big retainer no lawyer will bother with this. You are better off calling the state labor board, but you are probably out of luck.

The concept of returning money that has already been allocated to a particular business unit back to corporate is ridiculous. The money should stay in that unit and be distributed to existing employees instead it is placed in an executive slush fund. Another great example of a broken system and a broken company.

Bonuses are paid to employees on payout day.
It stands to reason that if you aren't an employee... you won't get yours.
Stop being silly.

One of the d-mber things you could possibly do with resigning so close to STI being paid early again this year.

If you’ve resigned and aren’t part of the YE planning process, your funding comes out of the pool and isn’t redistributed.

Ask to see a copy of the STI plan document. It is very clear that you must be an active employee at the time of payout in order to receive your bonus.

You should have negotiated the buyout of your 2021 bonus with your new employer. That’s what everybody else does!

If they dont loot your STI then how would Pirate Pete make his multi-milion $ STI bonus.
Pirate Pete makes 150% of his Target STI. Its a huge number.

Run like the wind!

I can only answer one of your questions from past years experience. Your manager does not pocket your sti money, your colleagues don't even get to benefit from your sti money. Your money will be returned to corporate where upper management will use it to pad their bonuses.

Yes, the right thing to do would be to help boost your colleagues bonuses since they will be absorbing your work. But you have to always remember that AIG does very little to help field level employees. This is the way at AIG. You only take care of "top talent" as PZ likes to say. The rest are expendable.

Congrats on getting out of this dump, don't ever look back.

Thread regarding AIG (American Intl Group Inc.) layoffs

Can I sue for wage theft?

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