Bonus for bank employees: Check eligibility, guidelines, examples, illustrations

Tentative list of eligible employees together with Bonus Calculation as per the data extracted from HRMS shall be provided to all Zones.

The payment of bonus act was recently amended. As per the amended provisions
ceiling on salary and wage has been increased from Rs.10,000 to Rs.21,000 per month. As such, employees whose salary/wage does not exceed Rs.21,000 per month are now eligible for bonus.

It has been decided to pay Bonus at the rate of 8.33% of salary to all the eligible employees for the period 01.04.2016 to 31.03.2017.

Salary for this purpose includes 1) Basic pay (including FPP & PQP) 2) Special Pay Dearness Allowance 4) Special Allowance with DA only. All the branches / offices may note to disburse the Bonus to all the eligible employees as per the procedure given here under.

Tentative list of eligible employees together with Bonus Calculation as per the data extracted from HRMS shall be provided to all Zones.

Zonal Offices should get the data verified and confirm the correctness of eligibility and amount of Bonus paid and payable.

Justification

For any modifications required to be undertaken in the list, Zonal Office should submit the details to HO with suitable justification. On receipt of the "Branch-wise difference and addition of Bonus payable details from the Zonal offices, the Bonus Amount will be credited to the "Cheque Proceeds Account" of the Zonal Office for onward distribution to branches.

Branches should enter details of Bonus paid in the Bonus Register for verification by the Labour Department Officials. The entire exercise of verification of calculation and Payment of Bonus to eligible employees should be completed by 25.09.2017.

Important guidelines

Bonus is payable to those employees whose salary does not exceed Rs.21,000 per month. In other words no Bonus is payable to those employees whose salary exceeds Rs.21,000 per month.

Every employee (including temporary employees) who had worked in the bank for not less than 30 working days during the financial year is eligible to receive the Bonus.

The maximum amount of Bonus payable to any eligible employee should be only Rs.7,000/- where an employee has worked for all 365 days.

For the purpose of computing the number of days during which the employee worked in the accounting year, he/she will be deemed to have worked on the days on which he/she has been on leave with salary / wages.

The minimum amount of Bonus payable to any employee is stipulated as Rs.100/- or the actual eligibility @ 8.33% whichever is higher.

In case, if the earning of an employee is reduced during a month on account of loss of pay, Bonus payable for that particular month should be calculated proportionately. An illustration is given in the Annexure-III

An employee will be disqualified for receiving Bonus if he is dismissed from the Service of the Bank due to (a) fraud (b) riotous or violent behaviour within the premises of the Bank of (c) theft, misappropriation or sabotage of any property of the Bank. In all such cases the matter should be referred to Human Resources Department (IR), Head Office for necessary instructions.
In case of employees who were placed under suspension / dismissed / discharged for misconduct prior permission from our Human Resources Department (IR), Head Office, may be sought before making any payment towards Bonus.
In respect of those employees who are eligible for payment of Bonus for the year 2016-17, but deceased, the Bonus amount shall be paid to their legal heirs provided a claims is preferred within one year form the date of this circular. These cases should also be referred to Human Resources Department (IR), Head Office.

No advance against Bonus should be made pending receipt of salary particulars from other branches.

Leave encashment is not to be treated as salary/wages for the payment of Bonus.

Branches claiming Bonus pertaining to earlier years should route their claims through their respective Zonal offices duly substantiating the reasons for delay in making payment. Zonal office should confirm that the amount is not reimbursed to branches earlier. The amount may be Claimed separately and it should not be clubbed with the bonus amount related to this year.

Special points requiring specific personal attention of salary disbursement authorities and contravention of which will attract action against them.

Bonus register form

Bonus register in form "C" should be maintained for each year in which all the particulars of each employee are to be filled without leaving any column blank. Acquaintances should be obtained at the time of payment of Bonus from all the employees to whom Bonus is paid.
At the time of inspection by Labour Enforcement Officer, all the relevant records should be produced before the concerned for verification.
As per the payment of Bonus rules 1975, every branch shall send an annual return in Form "D" to the concerned Labour Enforcement Officer (Central) so as to reach within 30 days of payment of Bonus. A proforma of form "D" is given in the Annexure. All the branches are advised to note the same and submit the annual return without fail.

Examples

Example 1: An employee has drawn salary of Rs.15800/- for April 2016, Rs.16500/- for May, Rs.17300/- for June, Rs.18300/- for July and August 2016, Rs.19700/- for September and October 2016, Rs.20700/- for November 2016 and from December 2016 to March 2017 Rs.21200/-. Bonus payable to the employee is calculated as under.
EXAMPLE - 2 Where the salary of an employee is reduced on account of loss of pay, the Bonus payable for that particular month should be reduced proportionately. Where the salary payable to an employee is more than 21,000/- per month but the salary earned for the respective month is reduced to below Rs.19,900/- per month on account of loss of pay, he is not eligible for payment of bonus. The Bonus payable in the above cases is calculated as under.

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