Payment of performance based bonuses - How do we stand for those employees off on maternity leave during the year ? Also can we pro-rata an employee off on sick leave?

A performance related bonus can measure “performance” in many different ways, for example, on the employer’s performance as a whole, the individual’s/team’s performance against certain criteria or on the employee’s attendance record.


(a) Maternity

Where a contractual bonus is paid in recognition of the performance of the business as a whole, and on an individual’s attendance record, the GB Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) decision in Hoyland v Asda Stores Ltd (2005) states that such bonuses can be pro-rated to reflect the time actually worked by an employee off on maternity leave. In the Hoyland v Asda case, the EAT confirmed that where a contractual bonus was paid to reward employees for