Originally Posted by
SpartanFlyer
1)Another company gave me a better job offer so I left.
2) The moment I told the company I was resigning due to having a better job offer, they immediately proceeded to tell me that I was going to be billed for pilot expenses (Look at #4) I was not expecting this, and if the company wanted to be reimbursed for pilot expenses, they should've made me sign a contract first day of indoc don't you think?
3)There was a discussion and I was aware of their intent to collect training costs if I decided to leave the company AFTER the initial checkride; that's when their contract kicks in. There was no handshake, verbal or written agreement after the discussion ended. I never made it to the checkride portion.
4)Basically, they are asking me to pay back hotel expenses, 2 hrs of flight time + instructor fees, and online training modules. No type rating required for this type of operation. The only thing that I received from this training was a basic 135 indoc.
Hope I'm being thorough and if you need more info just PM me.
The account of your situation is still vague, but there are several considerations here. Your immediate concern is whether you're legally obligated fo the repayment. No, you're not. This is to say, unless the employer chooses to come after you claiming that you have a duty to pay based on an existing agreement, it may be possible, but would be far too expensive for what you're describing, to make it worth their while.
That said, you agreed to take the job, agreed to take the training, and as soon as something brighter and shinier came along, you abandoned your commitment to this employer. In so doing, you're causing harm in several ways; you're burning resources for this employer (hotel, flight time, etc), but you're also stopping the employer from hiring a more reliable pilot: you agreed, and the employer committed to you, instead of continuing to look for someone else. Now the employer is without a pilot for a longer period of time, and will have to repeat the same expenses for the next guy.
With this in mind, regardless of whether you are legally obligated to repay the costs, the professional and correct thing to do would be to offer to pay them. It is you, after all, who is breaking faith and leaving.
It's because of employees who do this that employers have training contracts. You indicate that you knew that you'd be expected to repay the training if you elected to leave. You didn't say if you'd discussed a period of service as a condition of the training, but it's very common for new hires to expected to stay six months or a year in return for the training they receive.
You indicated that you only received basic indoctrination training, but also say that you flew for two hours; flight training is not basic indoc, so it appears that you received more training than just basic indoc.
You do need to think about your reputation. You do not want a reputation as someone who takes the money and runs. This may mean taking actual money (pay), or training; whatever you get, if it has value and you don't honor your commitment to the employer, you need to look at making restitution or making the employer whole. If your'e not willing to stay once you've committed to train, then don't take the job. If you do take the job, do the honorable thing and stand behind the commitment you've made. Simply because someone else comes along and offers you more money, does not alter the fact that you'd already committed to the current employer.
Another way you might think of it is a marriage; if you've just become married and committed to one person, it's not appropriate to cheat or walk away simply because you see someone that you think is more attractive.
An employer should not need a training contract in order for an employee to honor his or her commitment.