Kayaker53087

I work for a 91/91K operator in SE Michigan that has always had 12 month training contracts for new PIC type ratings; my questions is what's your opinion on a 24 month/2 year training contract? That's what they have started doing. Too much? It is pro rated on a monthly basis should I decide to leave.

Anyone have opinions or pros/cons of a situation like this?

CrakPipeOvrheat

Not if it's a good job with decent pay. Is it? Where do you work?

USMCFLYR

Training contracts make a lot of sense for a company. They may, or may not, make sense for the individual. Know what you are getting into when you sign on the dotted line - - or don't. My last two of three employers have a training contract (and now I believe they all do) and they were/are all GREAT places to work. I have no trouble signing one. Now if I was in a different place and looking to move and wanted to be able to have the ability to take another job if an opportunity came available then I'd think very hard about it. It is just another one of many risks in the industry and life itself. Good luck.

Kayaker53087

The pay is far below average for copilots, but for captains it barely tickles the bottom of the average pay scale. They're in the process of possibly revising this as they are worried about attrition.

It doesn't apply to me yet but some of the corporate operators I know and know others who work for have a quality of life where their directors know that a training contract isn't necessary.

I do like to keep my options open and it seems that a two year contract is a little much to sign for a new PIC type; I would have no problem with a one year, but a two year at low pay seems . . . .sleazy?

Am I out of line on my thinking?

rickair7777

I would only sign a contract if it's for a great job that I wouldn't consider leaving during the term, our if I needed a job real bad.

Two years would have been fine in 2008 but in today's environment a lot could happen.

Cubdriver

Training contracts can be/usually are written grossly in favor of the employer, offering zero recourse for an employee who is fired without establishing an unbiased cause for doing so. If you do anything whatsoever on this topic besides read this message board, have a licensed contract lawyer read the contract in question and explain what your options are in the event of improper termination. Many (all) companies use their own check airmen as the sole referee in generating technical grounds for a termination, which is not fair to the pilot because the referee is on company payroll. Worse, a few unscrupulous airlines are known to use training contract lawsuits as a way to boost revenue, which is of course highly unethical.

We just had a thread on this, see-

Training Contracts?

Kayaker53087

Thanks Cub I'll check that one out too!

worstpilotever

Check with an attorney, but I believe that in general, training contracts are illegal and as such unenforceable.

JamesNoBrakes

1. You are basically signing yourself up for indentured servitude. Prospects might seem nice now, but what about when they decide to downgrade you, tell you that you have to work 7 days in a row, that they need you to cover a little "extra", and so on. The contract gives the company too much leverage.

2. They generally are enforceable on the basic level. If you want to spend a lot of money, chances are good you can get out of it though, but you are going to most likely spend as much in lawyer fees as you would have paying it back. It's cheap for a company to collect on a training contract, because you signed a contract, and it's expensive for the employee to fight it.

3. You should have an attorney look at it. IMO, there should be requirements for the company too, so that it's not enforceable in a situation where the company has ****ed away their business or the owner decided to screw over the rest of the company. Obviously people are going to be looking to jump ship in certain situations, the training contract shouldn't be keeping you from doing so when it's due to something the company does (but chances are that's the way it's written).

4. Question any job that has a training contract. I can understand a year of "probation", but a "training contract" usually comes from a business that is desperate (warning sign!). Lots of jobs cost crazy amounts of money to "train" people and most of those do not have training contracts.

GogglesPisano

There is not a single respectable airline that requires their pilots to sign a training contract. I would assume this is the case in the corporate world as well. They exist for one reason only -- to stop attrition by substituting indentured servitude for decent pay and benefits.

Many are written in the form of a "promissory note": You owe your employer X number of dollars at the completion of your training. For every month of employment they deduct a certain amount. Contrary to some of the advice you have been given these are legal, enforceable contracts. Do not sign them lightly. In fact the best advice is to not sign one at all and run far, far away.

BTW, I have yet to see one that is even remotely balanced, as in, "If we fire/furlough you we'll pay you a year's salary."