I work in Ohio for a company based in KY. My hourly wage is under the industry standard and my employer uses a poorly structured bonus plan to "try" and make up the difference. There are many factors that go into my bonus and employess who are pulled from the site I actually work at are not counted aginst our performance numbers, in theory. MY company has failed to pay employees on time 4 times this year already and I am concerened they are not calculating our bonuses correctly, I'm averaging 200-400 dollars less a month yet my performance numbers appear to be the same. All of the rules for my bonus plan are laid out in the contract I've signed with the company.

Now that I have the background out of the way....Is my employer legaly responsible to show me the calculations that go into determining my bonus?

Unfortunately, no, not initially. I suppose that if you were to file a lawsuit, your attorney may be able to get at that information through subpoenas. However, as you may well guess, it would be costly.

Ouch!

How can we, as employees, be certain that our company is paying us correctly as determined by our contract? Is there no other way besides a lawsuit?

I don't know of any. Perhaps you should talk with a local attorney to get a definitive answer.