FULL TIMERS

A bonus is paid every 3 months and it reflects the period of employment covering the previous six months.

If a full timer works all the related period (previous 6 months) he/she gets the full bonus amount. If he/she works only part of that period the Gov. Bonus is pro-rated according to the working days worked in the employment period while the C.O.L.A. bonus is pro-rated according to the Fridays worked in the employment period.

Full Timers’ Bonus Payment schedule

Payable	Description	Amount €	Related employment period
			From	To
March 2010	C.O.L.A.	121.13	01/10/2009	31/03/2010
June 2010	Gov. Bonus	135.10	01/01/2010	30/06/2010
September 2010	C.O.L.A.	121.13	01/04/2010	30/09/2010
December 2010	Gov. Bonus	135.10	01/07/2010	31/12/2010

PART TIMERS

After discussions with IRD it was decided that instead of paying one full bonus every 3 months the system can pay half the sum of 2 bonuses every 3 months for the following reasons.

1. According to the law the calculation of the average weekly hours worked should be based on the hours worked in the last 13 weeks (3 months). In case of business sectors like the hospitality sector where the number of hours worked depend on seasonality it might result that the hours worked in the last 13 weeks do not reflect the average hours worked over the 6 month bonus period.

2. In the case of the March C.O.L.A. bonus the effective period spans between two calendar years (from 1 October 2009 to 31 March 2010). This creates difficulty for new payroll installations, as the information required for the last 3 months (October to December 2009) of the previous year is not available on the system for estimation of average weekly hours on a 6 month basis.

3. For existing payroll installations this information (last quarter of 2009) is in the previous year and not readily available to the system for the current year calculation.

Over a complete year the annual bonus paid is equal to a full timer’s if a part timer worked an average 40 hour week.

Simply put the part timers’ pro-rata bonus calculation is as follows:

The bonus amount due for the full bonus period is multiplied by the percentage average weekly hours worked by the part timer and then it is multiplied by the percentage period employed in relation to the full bonus period.

Part timers’ Bonus Payment Schedule

Payable	Description	Amount € (Pro-rata of)	Related employment period
			From	To
March 2010	Gov. Bonus	67.55	01/10/2009	31/03/2010
	C.O.L.A.	60.57	01/10/2009	31/03/2010
June 2010	Gov. Bonus	67.55	01/01/2010	30/06/2010
	C.O.L.A.	60.57	01/01/2010	30/06/2010
September 2010	Gov. Bonus	67.55	01/04/2010	30/09/2010
	C.O.L.A.	60.57	01/04/2010	30/09/2010
December 2010	Gov. Bonus	67.55	01/07/2010	31/12/2010
	C.O.L.A.	60.57	01/07/2010	31/12/2010

EXAMPLE 1. – JUNE Bonus for employees working all the related 6 month period

A full timer will get the full €135.10 if he/she was employed before or on 1^st January of the current year.

If a part time employee was employed before or on 1^st January and worked an average 40 hour week, he/she would get half €135.10 June Gov. Bonus + half €121.13 September C.O.L.A. i.e. €128.12 (see per part timers’ table above). The part timer would get this amount every 3 months and over a year it would be equal to the total of a full timer’s annual bonus.

EXAMPLE 2. – JUNE Bonus for employees working half the related 6 month period

A full timer employed on the 1^st April only gets half the €135.10 June Bonus as he only worked half the period between 01/01/2010 and 30/06/2010.

For the same reason a part timer employed on 1^st April will get half of the bonuses due for the period (1 April to 30 June) i.e. (67.55+60.57)/2

Conclusion

Although the average weekly hours calculation is based on hours worked in the previous 13 weeks (3 months), the bonus amount paid still needs to reflect the period of employment over the previous six months.

Category:

Calculation