Originally Posted by
tallow
State law or contract language cannot violate US Law. In that case they are unenforceable.
Thirteenth Amendment:
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
When you sign the contract for your training an indenture is created for the period of time specified in the contract. This kind of contract was made illegal by the Thirteenth Amendment. That is why no airline has ever tried to take someone to court over this because they have good attorneys that know it is ultimately unenforceable.
So, moral issues aside, they can't force repayment through legal means. Now, they can report it as a bad debt, they can constantly harass you according to the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and future employers may look unfavorably on it if they pull your credit report or you tell them what you did. But, they can't force you to pay it back.
I’d buy this argument more if taking the bonus was a mandatory requirement for employment. It is not. You can opt out completely or you can defer it until it fully vests.
I’d also buy this argument more if the company wasn’t allowing you to leave before 2 years at all. But you are free to go, and paying or not paying back the bonus is entirely up to what you decided to do day 1.
Let me ask a question. Some companies give employees free uniforms upfront but if you leave in certain amount of time you must then pay for them. And then they payroll deduct your last check to get their money back. Are you saying because you received something of value upfront that has a time requirement to it that this practice is illegal too?