Hey, its been over a week since the last bonus pay increase. When is the next one. Its been a while.

 

What are the commitments for the bonuses for a new hire first officer? They obviously don't readily advertise those in the recruiting stuff that's out there.

 

Can't edit my post anymore, but I think I'm seeing that the bonuses require 24 month commitment. Is that correct?

And how exactly do they work? 24 months form the day the cash hits your bank account?

For instance, with the sign on bonus $10k, you owe 24 months from that point? So as an example, if I was eligible for that today I would have to stay at Envoy until June of 2024 to avoid paying that back? And then the remaining $5k that comes at 1 year as a first officer, you would owe them 24 more months from that date as well, so you would have to stay at Envoy until June of 2025 to avoid paying that back? Is that how these bonuses work, and is there any pro-rate to the amounts?

Not necessarily planning to bail out on Envoy that fast, but just want to understand the terms of the bonus contracts.

 

24 months non-prorated

Copied & Pasted from bammike on Piedmont forum

Let's say you get hired as an FO in Jan 2023 and you upgrade to captain in Jan 2024. Here is what it will look like:

1)New hire 15k (payback until Jan 2025)

2)15k one year of service bonus received Jan 2024 (payback until Jan 2026)

3)950 hours SIC time (aka Captain ready) 30k bonus that you get in bank account in Jan 2024 (payback until Jan 2026)

4)Year 1 anniversary as a captain 40k that you get in bank account Jan 2025 (payback until Jan 2027)

5)Year 2 anniversary as a captain 40k that you get in bank account Jan 2026 (payback until Jan 2028)

6)25k if you flow/get hired at American

In the example above if you quit in September 2025, you will have to pay back the 15,000 one year of service bonus, the 30,000 950 hours SIC bonus, and the 40,000 year 1 captain bonus. And you need to pay them back in FULL, not what you got after taxes. Taxes can be refunded after bonus payback, but you have to come up with the cash to pay it back first. If you don't pay it back in 60 days it starts to accrue interest at 6%, and you owe them 30% of the amount in attorney fees if they have to sue you for the money. The bonus is not prorated, but if you go to AA, die, lose your medical for more than 3 years, or retire at age 65 it's forgiven.
The bonus is structured as a promissory note, it is definitely enforceable. Maybe if you declare bankruptcy you could get out of it but they would definitely come after you. The bonus contract is very one sided in favor of Piedmont.

 

Thank you, that spells it out pretty nicely.

 

Ok, so I've played the paying back a bonus game and it's a tax nightmare. I assume you can waive these bonus's right?

 

Was just coming back to this thread to ask the same question.

Can the various bonuses be declined?

 

Yes, you can decline all the bonuses.

 

So, as someone coming in with over 1000 121 SIC and eligible for around 62k in bonuses year 1, I'm guessing it would be ill-advised to take the bonuses if I'm planning to bounce to a legacy within the next 2-3 years....

 

I would definitely take the money. This industry swings fast (in both directions). I’ve heard people saying that the taxes are a lot of work to recover, but you know what takes even more work?…Earning 62K you could have had for free if the hiring suddenly stops.