Whether you are entitled to bonus payments depends on whether there is an agreement between you and your employer.
If there is an express term in your contract saying you will be paid a bonus, or an implied term by virtue of custom and practice, then you have a contractual right to a bonus. In this circumstance if an employer failed to pay your bonus when due, it would in breach of contract.
If your contract makes it clear that the bonus is paid at the employer’s discretion, then you may not be contractually entitled to the payment.
However, the bonus may not be discretionary if both sides intended it would be paid in all but extraordinary circumstances, or the discretion has never been exercised and the bonus (irrespective of the label given to it) has in reality always been paid automatically.
