[thesnider]

Why would you ever set this system up so that the employee would have to remember to claim the bonus unless you never really expect to pay it? Surely the company could very easily determine who is woed bonuses when, and automatically disburse them? Mine certainly does!

It's great for you that you don't care about $10,000 owed to you, but not everyone is in that position, and that doesn't make them worse people then you

[arbales]

Oh don't get me wrong, if someone actually owed me 10k, I'd totally care /and/ be aggressive about collecting, but that's not the case here.

Startups, especially small ones, need not waste time with HR infrastructure like this – they're building products. HR should be ad-hoc and people-driven. If that's a problem, there are numerous larger companies to work for that devote their time to things like that. It's not unreasonable to expect someone to ask/remind the company about their referral bonus – and if he cared that much about it, he'd have collected before he departed.

My point is – spilt milk. Move on, build other opportunities for yourself, and don't forget again :D

[suresk]

How is that not _exactly_ the case here? The company offers a $10k fee for referring an employee who stays 6 months. Employee refers someone who stays 6 months, but the company forgets to pay him and he forgets until a month after he quits. The company owes him $10k, and the fact that he quit is immaterial.

I don't think the naming and shaming was a very good idea, but he is absolutely owed $10k.