I am a CA employee who receives a base salary and a quarterly bonus based on how well (or poorly) my sales team finishes each quarter. I went out on Maternity Leave in late August of 07, and received a bonus payment of $2400 in October for the 3rd qtr (July-Sept). I also received a bonus in January 2008 for $2400 for the last quarter of 2007 (Oct - Dec) - even though I was still out on Maternity Leave. I returned to work this week and was told that both bonuses were overpaid due to the fact that I was not working in those quarters. My employer's solution is to withhold the next 2 quarters' bonuses, and it could be longer since I'm not guaranteed that the bonuses will be the same amount. I have reviewed my company policy regarding Maternity Leave and there is no documentation on how bonuses are paid (or NOT paid) while on Maternity Leave. Not to mention, all of the upper mgt in my company knew I would be going out for maternity since March 2007 and no one ever mentioned that I would not receive bonuses while out on leave. Is it even legal in CA to withhold future bonus payments to correct an over payment? Can my employer request that I pay the overpayments back? And is being out for Maternity Leave a legal reason to withhold bonuses? Please help!

duplicate post.