The next post in the series, New York Employees: What Your Employer Knows and You Should Learn Now

Your Bonus Is Going to Buy You That Car You Always Wanted. Don’t rely on conversations about future compensation. Employees going into a new job are often assured about future bonuses in a way that may be entirely unenforceable. Representations that a bonus will be based, for example, on a “target,” or tied in a vague way to the employer’s success or employee’s performance, do not give you any real security. If the employer terminates you before bonuses are paid, you may lose out. The only way to truly hold an employer to a promise of a bonus is to have it in writing, as part of an employment contract that protects you from the employer’s discretionary action.