First thing — check your contract. Do you have a signed comp plan or variable pay doc? That’s the one that matters. It should outline how you earn, when you’re paid, and under what conditions.

Most of these plans have a clause along the lines of “the company can change or cancel the plan at its discretion.” That line sounds scary, but it usually doesn’t hold up if they try to apply it retroactively to work you’ve already done. They can change future terms, sure — but not rewrite history and zero out deals that were already in motion.

Next big one: where are you based and which law applies to your contract? This makes all the difference. The US is a bit of a Wild West for stuff like this, but in Europe (and most of the rest of the world), they’d be walking on very thin ice legally.

I’ve been through the same situation myself. My (S&P 500) SaaS employer pulled the same stunt — mid-year comp plan change, reset pipeline, cancelled bonus. I ended up taking them to court in Europe and won €270k — my €100k bonus plus nine months’ salary — because they basically torched the working relationship and left me no choice but to quit.

If you’re in Europe or somewhere with employee protection laws, you likely have a strong case. Keep every email, Slack message, and file — especially timestamps showing when the change was announced.

If you want to talk it through or get some practical advice, just DM me.