An employee signs an employment contract that specifies salary and a 30-hour minimum weekly requirement but does not specify any bonus terms. The employer later announces a new bonus program and tells the employee that, in addition to logging monthly sales online, the employee must call the company's central office on the first Friday of each month to report sales. The employee logs online but does not make the phone call; the company then insists on the bonus. Is there a contract for the bonus?

• A. No, because the employee did not explicitly accept the bonus program.
• B. Yes, because the company prevented the employee from satisfying the express condition of the March 15 offer.
• C. Yes, because the employee's logging of sales was sufficient.
• D. No, because there was no consideration for the bonus.

Answer: (B)

This tests how a unilateral contract and an express condition operate when the other party blocks the required performance. A bonus offered to an employee is typically a unilateral contract: the employer promises to pay the bonus in exchange for the employee performing a specified act. Acceptance occurs only by completion of that act. Here, the condition is that the employee must report sales by making a phone call on the first Friday each month, in addition to logging monthly sales online. The employee’s logging online is not by itself acceptance; the required act—the phone call—must be done to form the contract.

The reason this answer is correct is that the company’s instruction effectively prevents the employee from satisfying the express condition. When the offeror prevents performance of a condition to acceptance, the offeree is relieved from the need to perform the condition, and the offer remains open in a way that can create a binding obligation once the prohibited performance would have occurred. In other words, the company’s insistence on the bonus while blocking the means to complete the required act means a contract for the bonus arises because acceptance would have occurred via the specified act but was thwarted by the employer’s behavior.

Why the other ideas don’t fit: acceptance in a unilateral contract does not require explicit agreement; it occurs through performance. Logging sales alone does not satisfy the express condition. There is consideration: the promise of a bonus in exchange for performing the reporting act is a bargained-for exchange.