Originally Posted by
loganeich
Assuming the company found the electronically signed contract, they would then need to file in court to come after the money. At minimum, that would be 10-20K for lawyers to be retained, have you served papers, file, etc. I don't think they will go through the legal system to recover. Someone mentioned you suing them, but that would make no sense with lawyer fees, chance of losing, paying their fees, etc.
Actually, it would make sense. Clearly they wouldn’t be doing that to get the OP back, as that likely would not be cost effective. But they probably have a hundred other FOs who have signed the same agreement. It’s sort of like a military firing squad, where you don’t actually expect to change the motivation of the guy you are shooting because he’s gonna be dead anyway, but it’s more just ‘pour encourager les autres’. By hammering the OP management can make it less likely the 99 remaining guys fail to honor THEIR contract.
If you don't pay them back, expect to get letters, marks on credit report, etc.. As others have said, having an unpaid debt to Air Wisconsin when a future employer pulls your credit report might just eliminate you from consideration with no chance to explain.
Might? It almost certainly would. And Air Whiskey would be under no obligation to NOT tell every major out there you reneged on your contract since it would be an entirely truthful statement. Moreover, they almost certainly WOULD do that, for the same reason as above. Not simply to get at the OP but to send a message to the others who signed the same agreement.