The company my girlfriend works for has always paid out bonuses with a two part system. One being the percentage your total salary is of the company's total payroll, and two your length of tenure. She works at a golf club and her salary is composed of both an hourly base pay, as well as tips(all of which are claimed as it is a private club with no cash). The new system for paying bonuses is your total salary broken down into an hourly rate, and you are paid based on how high or low that hourly rate is. Except this year her tips are no longer considered a part of her salary, only her base pay rate is considered salary. She is taxed on both her hourly and her tips, and her total salary on her W-2 is not what they used to determine her hourly rate for purposes of bonuses. What this has done is drastically reduce her bonus, as well as all people in the food and beverage department, while drastically raising all other departments. Shouldn't her total salary on her w-2 be used since that is what was used for all other departments?

There is no law or requirement, as long as they don't give bonus based on race, religion or some protected class for discrimination.

They could give bonus to only salary staff, or bonus just on performas, or no bonus at all to kitchen staff. It is there money they are just giving away, and they can do it anyway they want, They could give it to every third person who walked though the door if they wanted to.


Is it fair, no, it is just, no, is it legal, yes of course since it is their money.

This is one of the lessons of life, life is not fair, so we live and learn.