Recently, the term "reverse salary bargaining" has become popular, and there are news reports that 10 banks require employees to return the performance bonuses in 2023, with a total amount of 99.88 million! Among them, China Merchants Bank had the highest total amount of "reverse salary bargaining" last year, with a total amount of 43.29 million yuan in recourse and deduction of performance pay, involving 4,415 employees who implemented performance pay recourse and clawback. Many people may be curious, what does this "reverse salary bargaining" mean? I can also operate in this way when I open a company as a boss and ask for employees' performance wages back?
The so-called "reverse salary bargaining" means that if an employee violates the law, violates rules or disciplines, or excludes the risk loss within the scope of his or her duties, the bank may partially or fully recover the performance-based remuneration that has been paid within the corresponding period and stop paying the unpaid part. This system is usually aimed at senior bank managers and employees in key positions. Its legal basis comes from the Guiding Opinions on Establishing and Improving the Recourse Clawback Mechanism for Performance-based Remuneration of Banking and Insurance Institutions issued by the General Office of the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission in January 2021. The main purpose of this guidance is to form accountability measures within banks, which is also a means of risk control in the lending business.
Some bosses may see such news, and think that their company's efficiency is not good, so they will "get back" the performance salary of employees to make their lives better. It is not suitable for other industries.
If the company has paid the performance salary to the employee in accordance with the standards and procedures for the payment of performance wages in a legal and compliant manner, then according to Article 50 of the Labor Law, the wages shall be paid to the employee in the form of money on a monthly basis, and the performance salary is part of the labor remuneration, and the employer has no right to deduct the employee's salary without legal reasons.
Unless the company makes an error in the payment of performance wages, such as calculation errors, duplicate payments, etc., or the employee violates the relevant regulations or contractual provisions of the company after receiving the performance salary, such as violating the confidentiality agreement, taking away the company's trade secrets after leaving the company, etc., the company may require the employee to return the performance salary he has received, or take other legal measures to protect the company's rights and interests.