Originally Posted by
Soxfan1
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?
The uniform purchase would fall under property law because it is property, not labor. And in that case the company is well within its rights to recover property or monies to cover property taken. The labor contract falls under labor law.
This is about the indentured contract, not anything else. Once the contract is taken out any other options will be irrelevant to the court. And indentured contracts are illegal under US law. That is why the attorney told the OP that its not enforceable, as any good labor lawyer will tell you. And, I guarantee, Air Wiskey knows this, they are just trying to recover as much as they can like any good business. I guarantee if you talk to them they will settle for less just to clear their books.