There's two views that you look at.
1) Bonuses like this are usually for prior work done, or based around company profitability for the prior year. If he's done a good job then he's earned the bonus. Its easy to say screw him, but its equally as important for a company to let an employee go on good terms as it is for a staffer to leave on good terms. If he didn't or couldn't give you notice and you agreed that he could leave early then he's not leaving on bad terms, he's negotiated a mutual termination. By giving him his bonus, your fostering possible future good will to a possible customer, corporate refererance, or a returning employee. It also might be good for your overall retention strategy in this case as it will foster good will among your remaining staff.
2) If you have it in his employee contract that he needs to be employed at a certain date to receive the bonus and he hasn't met that date then your not obligated to give him that bonus. If you don't have it in there, then there's a chance he could challenge you on it legally, so my free advice is to add that clause to any future employment contracts. He could also challenge you if you give him a partial bonus, if this is a bonus based around either an earlier promise, or around work done and completed, company profitability, etc.
3) In an employment market like Calgary has right now, where its tough to maintain and hire new staff even ex-employee's if they're not disgruntled can be a valuable recruiting tool that can be taken advantage of. If you decide to give him the bonus, make sure that you do a complete exit interview, and ask him if he knows somebody thats looking for work (if your looking for a replacement)
If you have any questions, you can feel free to PM me.
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