Recent court decisions make it dangerous to allocate the bonus pool in a discriminatory fashion. It is sometimes said that the major share of the bonus pool may be given to the proverbial big hitters which bring in the lion share of the revenues. This can only be acceptable as long as the distribution of the bonus pool is justified by production numbers.Any deviation leaves firms and their line managers open to law suits by professionals who consider themselves treated unfairly.Every firm and department always will have a few big producers among staff. Often they are just lucky to be allocated the best clients. This may be due to the fact that they are the best professionals, - but even then their production numbers are only made possible by the presence of an infrastructure supported by their team colleagues. This aspect will always exert a levelling influence on the disparity of bonus levels among staff.
