Is It Legal for My Ex-Company to Withhold Performance Pay After Resignation? Seeking Advice

Hi there, my ex-company, the MOP, included performance pay as part of the CTC. For FY21-22, targets were set, and we shared our accomplishments against these targets. I resigned from the company on September 22, and my last working month was November 22. The company decided that only those who have not resigned or are still in service with the organization until January 23 can receive performance pay. Even for employees present until January 23, they will only receive 50% of the performance pay due to some losses. These losses are not part of our performance pay points, yet they impact all departments.

Is it legal to withhold such an amount?

The decision to not pay performance pay for employees who have left was communicated in October 2022. I require your help. If this is not legal, what steps should be taken?

Thanks in advance.

Dear member,

The "Performance Pay" is an internal matter of the company. Please check the policy of your company and bring any inconsistencies to the notice of the concerned authorities.

Employers are empowered to decide on the performance pay, and they can change the policy retrospectively as well. Employees cannot do anything if the policies are changed.

The decisions of this kind are taken by companies that do not care for the image of the company or do not value the company's values.

Occasionally, blame can be laid at the door of a few HR professionals as well. To please their superiors, they give unfair suggestions to their bosses, making ordinary employees victims of unethical or fiendish suggestions.

In life, we have to take in our stride someone's unfairness or even wickedness. At best, you can give very negative comments on Glassdoor.com or some other website, but you cannot recover your losses by uploading those comments!

Thanks,

Dinesh Divekar