CFO loses $200k bonus claim after choosing his own interpretation of employer's requirements

SINGAPORE – A chief financial officer who claimed $200,000 in unpaid bonuses has lost his case after a judge found that he had effectively rewritten his employer’s requirements because he believed he knew better.Ngai Nai Ping Jango joined precision-engineering company Banshing Industrial as its CFO in November 2022, on a monthly salary of $20,000 and an annual performance bonus of $100,000.His employment was terminated in November 2024, and he left the company in January 2025. He sued for $200,000 in unpaid bonuses for 2023 and 2024, arguing that he had fulfilled the bonus requirements through a financial valuation model he developed and that the company’s founder had assured him the bonuses would be paid.District Judge Jonathan Ng Pang Ern dismissed his claims on Sept 1, ruling that Ngai had “unilaterally reinterpreted” the bonus criteria because he thought he knew better.The dispute arose after Banshing director Alvin Cheng Kaway sent Ngai an e-mail in June 2023, setting out what would form the basis of his bonus.