Do we have to pay bonuses to employees who quit before the normal payout date?

Q. Our company pays out bonuses in the year after the work is completed, sometimes late into the first quarter. If an employee resigns before the bonus payout date (say, in February), do we have to pay a bonus to that employee?

A. It depends on what your bonus policy says. In Pennsylvania, you may draft a bonus policy that requires an employee to be employed at the time bonuses are paid in order to receive the bonus.

If your bonus policy is silent on that issue, however, then an employee may be able to argue successfully that she is entitled to a bonus that she earned while employed, even if it is not due to be paid until after she resigns.