Back to Bonuses
 

What is the $15,000 in Blue? It reads like a "ratification" bonus for existing pilots.... am I reading this wrong? Has anyone received that $15k yet?

They have 'till roughly July 15 to pay it assuming you signed June 1. What are you trying to buy?

What are those 750 hours required for captain pay? 121? With Envoy?
...does military count? That would be an unbeatable deal if it did.

I found my own answer in 121.436 -- only 500 military hours count towards those hours.

Probably just going into savings in case I'm not here in 2 years and need to pay it back, but i was just curious because nobody ever mentions it. So if a year 3 FO upgrades to CA, they get $15k plus $30K this year?

Don’t they take Social Security and Medicare out of bonuses in addition to Federal tax? You can recoup the Federal on your next tax return but I doubt you would get the Medicare and Social Security back, so you end up paying back more than you receive.

Yeah but less than a year ago they were handing out furloughs. Cash in hand now always beats they chance of having to pay it back. if I'm not here and do have to pay it back, I'll be at a better place and the loss to ss/mc will be a nuisance not a major burden.

^^^^. This right here.

Also talk to a CPA about filing an amended return or other strategy to effectively get credit for the previous taxes paid. There may be a way to negate the effect.

Bottom line is INVEST the bonuses don’t spend them.

Word. I've always been pro all bonuses and pro getting as much in the bank as quickly as possible. You know what happens to all these agreements when AAG goes bankrupt? They get renegotiated. Grab every bag. It's not like they're asking you to pay them interest as long as you cough up, so with the real rate of inflation you're actually only paying them back 85% or so assuming you keep it a year. Everyone should be on Plan B turbo bonus or whatever it's called imo. Dollars will never be worth as much as they are right now again.

How would you recommend investing that bonus? If you put it in a high yield savings account you will be lucky to get 1% interest, and you will owe tax on that. If you invest in the stock market, you may find the market is down just when you need to repay it. Meanwhile you lose 7.98% to Social Security and Medicare, and 22% to Federal taxes that may take you a year to get back.

Depends on your risk tolerance. Just wondering whether those golden handcuffs are worth it.

How you invest your money is up to you. Ask one of our genius short timer FOs waiting for his class date at Delta which is the hottest cryptocurrency. The point is money in the market is better than money out of the market, and money today is better than money tomorrow.

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.

Fool me once...
 

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.

Absolutely. Take it. If you are just aiming for any legacy, then apply to American. If you get hired ahead of the flow, you don't owe them anything. In fact, they'll give you more as you go out the door.

Signing Bonus Payment
 

Was told that bonus payment date isn’t per LOA, it will not be based on signing date. Payment date will be based on date that accounting checks the system (6/30), so that is being considered the start date for bonus signing.

LOA:
“Pre-Flow Captains as of the Effective Date shall be eligible for payments as follows:
i. $15,000 within 45-days of the pilot’s execution of an individual agreement with Envoy, as described in Paragraph A.8 below;”

Pay back if you go to American
 

I am looking to start with Envoy and qualify for a significant amount of these bonuses. If I get flowed to American and want to leave to go back to being an Air Traffic Controller or just separate altogether for whatever the reason, do I then have to pay American back?

No


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When you say you qualify for a significant amount of the bonuses, do you mean prior 121 time? Technically, anyone hired by the end of the year qualifies for most of the bonuses.

Keep in mind flow to American will still be six or so years after you start to see most of that bonus money and if you get hired outside flow early, that will decrease the amount you receive. But as written, the day after you get to American you can quit for any reason and you have still fulfilled the requirements and don’t have to pay anything back.

Thank you
 

Yes that was my question exactly. Once you leave Envoy for American the money is yours without any requirements for pay back. Yes I have previous 121 time.