Another group of Allied Irish Bank (AIB) workers plan to file claims for bonus payments promised them by the Irish bank in 2008, but since deferred.
The group of workers are claiming for bonuses ranging from 3,000 euro to 38,000 euro with the Irish courts.
The workers are responding to the new Credit Institutions Stabilisation Act, which came into force this week, giving the Irish Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan the power to make the government's support for banks conditional on them not paying out bonuses.
The group of staff in AIB’s capital markets division are expected to file claims with the Irish Circuit Court for the payment of the deferred bonuses.
the move comes after the Finance minister Lenihan warned the bank not to go ahead with plans to pay 9.2 million euro in bonuses, as the government would not provide it with any further bailout funding.
AIB had agreed to pay the bonuses after John Foy, a capital markets trader, succeeded in getting a High Court judgement against the bank for his 161,000 bonus.
90 other AIB employees took a similar action and the bank believed it had no choice but to pay them. But after a public and political outcry the minister intervened and the bank said it would not pay out.
AIB was due to pay 58.7 euro million in bonuses in total, with some senior individuals receiving as much as 780,000 euro individually.
The Irish public is enraged by these moves since AIB is due to get over 13 billion from the Irish taxpayer and the State will end up owning over 90 percent of the bank.
However the anger is not exclusive to the Irish public. AIB's Capital Markets staff are said to be furious their overseas colleagues received their bonus payments, as did employees working for Irish competitors such as Bank of Ireland.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.americano | Dec 20, 2010, 10:12 AM EST
The AIB staff are no longer entitled to demand their bonuses because it is obviously clear that AIB (and the other Irish banks)are de-facto bust, and have no more of their "own" money left, any money they have got at present is covered and provided by the Irish Tax payer. Those bonus expecting AIB staff are of course very upset, that is well understood, but they have to accept that their employer (AIB) is bust, and when a company is bust payment is no longer available, and the courts in Ireland can not force others i.e the Irish taxpayer to pay their bonuses,and the Irish government is absolutely right to oppose the bonus payments given the current financial AIB circumstances. Moreover, the "bonus-claimers should be thankful that the government bailed AIB out, because without this bale-out they would have lost their jobs, never mind the bonus payment. Nevertheless, should AIB become more efficient and successful in the future, and be able to repay their massive debts, then in about 5 to 6 years the "bonus claimers" might have a chance to get their current bonus paid, in the meantime they should be thankful for the government bale-out because it has kept their job, their income, and their way of live, which did not happen to several thousand other Irish people who lost their jobs and thus their way of live.
sirpeter | Dec 19, 2010, 01:18 PM EST
Our banking system seem to be greedy to the roots down.
Dublinjas | Dec 19, 2010, 11:44 AM EST
This Government should stop doing anything period, they no longer have a mandate nor the authority.
seamusmoore | Dec 19, 2010, 09:18 AM EST
Anyone care to bet against them winning in court like Foy? Only banana republics pass ex-post facto laws like CISA. AIB should just pay the deferred 2008 bonuses as contractually required and that will be the end of bonus payments to bank employees for a long time.