Hi all, thanks in advance for any help. I started working with a company based in CO in 2023 and have been working remotely from FL and now MI. They initially hired me as an exempt employee with 25% of my pay as quarterly, non-recoverable bonuses. A few months in, they changed the bonus structure to annual, offering ‘advance bonuses’ for 2024 to ease the transition. But if I leave before March 2025, I’d have to pay all bonuses back. They also made my position non-exempt.
As the primary breadwinner, I had to take the advances, but now that I’m leaving, HR says I have to pay them back and will reduce my final paycheck to minimum wage, eating into my accrued PTO too. They’ve said the required payback amount will increase if I don’t pay by the end of 2024.
I’m worried I’m stuck here. Has anyone dealt with something similar? I have documentation, but the language from HR has been vague. Any advice on how to handle this?