Remember that any judgement rendered by a court of law in the US will appear on your credit report. When/if you try to obtain financing for a car, house, boat, motorcycle, get a credit card, personal loan etc. That judgement will have a great negative impact on your ability to get future credit or financing. When/if you ever pay the judgement it will remain on your credit for another 7-10 years unless you go through a painful process with the credit agencies to have it removed.

You have gotten a lot of advice here from a lot of people. Maybe some are attorneys, maybe not. If you are a member of AOPA legal services plan, this would be an excellent situation to use your phone call options to get some legal advice about your specific contract.

You can be sued for anything. Doesn't matter if it is a training cost, lost profits, dmage to the sheep skin seat from crackin #ss, or walking funny across the ramp. Whether or not any suit will hold up in court (if it got that far) is another matter. Fact is, you can be sued and your only alternative is to hire a lawyer to draft a response to the complaint. It might end there, it might not. At this point in your career you don't need the stress of wondering. Get some legal advice before you proceed. You certainly don't want to get pushed around, but you also don't want to be involved in even a frivolous law suit at this point.

 

Call in sick for 3 months in a row and then give them your 2 weeks notice. Dutifully inform them that you are also sick and unavailable for those 2 weeks as well.

 

I did something like that to a 135 operater years ago. Two weeks later I got a LOI from the FAA regarding careless and reckless taxiing at 3 of the airports that I frequented. Nothing came of it, but it really set me on fire.
Gotta watch out for yourself out here, NOBODY has your back in this business anymore. Not even good old "take my dues and through pizza parties and pep rallies" ALPA.

 

Sounds typical of some of the 135 operators out there. The one I worked for tried to sue some of the guys for bailing out early on their training contracts. When it was shown that they had numerous photocopies of logbook writeups the company thought "didn't exist" anymore, those threats mysteriously went away very quickly. You are absolutely correct in saying thath nobody has your back anymore.

 

I've been nearly exactly where you are. I took the regional job and have no regrets. I left at 9 months on a 12 month contract. For a year I heard nothing.

Then one day a sherriff came with the papers. As the company was based in another state, I had to travel to this state for a mandatory non-binding hearing. Before the hearing my attorney and there attorney negotiated a 50% discount on the amount. I begrudgingly agreed, having no idea where I would get $2000. The company turned down the agreement their attorney had negotiated. So we proceeded with a hearing.

As it was an arbitrator and not a trial the lawyers simply provided advice while the principal argued their cases. I kicked their CFO's ass. I explained the difference between a type rating (which I didn't get) and a SIC check which is of no use to me beyond this company. I explained the promises they had made and not followed through on. I also addressed the surprise nature of the contract, ie after I had quit my job and shownup for training. The arbitrator agreed with me, no judgement,no award.

So now the non-binding part bites me in the ass. They file notice that they intend to proceed to trial. The first step is a preliminary hearing. My lawyer tells me it'll all legal blah-blah, but I will need to come for the trial. At the preliminary hearing the judge issue a summary judgement basically saying that the contract is valid on it's face, ie I owe $8000. The higher amount is based on the fact that they count from completion of IOE, not DOH. Something that should have required a trial to determine.

So, for the past 6 years I have had a judgement on my credit report. It has had little effect on anything. My FICO has ranged from 720-780. I have financed two cars and a home equity loan. I did have to change banks to get the home equity loan, as the first bank wanted the judgement paid. The second had no issue with it.

As far as garnishments or seizures of assets their problem is that they and their judgement are in state X and I, and all my assets are in state Y. If they wanted to get a judgement in my state they would have to play on my home field and I would relish the rematch in my house. So for 6 years, it's been a dead issue. In another year or two I will write the credit bureau to have it removed, after 7 years. They can have it renewed but most companies forget to do it. We'll see!!

As for lawyers, Shakespeare had it right, kill them all! My lawyer got $1000 from me for something I could have done myself. I believe he had too much time into the case already and he had agreed to defend me up to any appeals for that $1000. If he had argued with the passion I did he certainly could have at least made it to a trial. But he didn't.

So I would say the details of your situation are critical. Do you live in the same state,making your pay and assets more vulnerable? Has the employer given you other reasons to honor your commitment. Had I waited 3 more months to go to ACA, I would have been furloughed from Indy a year earlier. I might not have acquired the hours I did to get to the major I am at now.

Sorry this is so long, but I thought you might benefit from someone whose actually been there and played it out. Good luck, whatever you decide!!

 

I was actually joking, calling the FAA on a small operation that YOU work for would expose you to a lot of scrutiny too.

But if there are suspected tax or financial issues...

 

Here is another way to look at it. What did you agree to when you were hired? If you agreed to work for a year then do what you promised. Explain honestly to your employment offer folks and tell them the truth. If they are worth going to work for, they will understand and offer you a later class date. If they penalize you for your honesty they aren't worth working for anyway. At times, a man's character is all he has. Do the right thing!

 

I believe training contracts normally do not require you to agree to actually WORK somewhere for a year. They specify that if you leave in less than one years time you repay some (or maybe all) of your training costs. In this case Kilo has no moral obligation to stay for one year. He may well have an obligation to repay some training costs if his employer has acted in good faith.

There is a reason that no aviation company is likely to require pilots to sign a contract to work for them for a year: They would then be obligated to actually EMPLOY the pilot for a year, or at least pay him his salary! Oops!

 

Although I am a lawyer, I am unable (and it is unethical) to give you specific advice on a forum such as this, but I can only give general advice. Trying to break an employment contract and potentially getting sued for damages should never be taken lightly. You ought to consult a lawyer before deciding to do anything at all. Your state bar association can refer you to lawyers if you do not know of any. And if you are low income, there are legal services organizations that might be able to help you. Try to talk with an attorney who has experience in contract law or employment law.

In general, most contracts contain damage clauses that the party wanting to break the contract must pay. Read yours and see what it says, if anything. This of course does not mean that your employer will still not sue you. And even if you are judgment proof, there is always a paper trail which may or may not affect future employment potential. Many employers these days ask whether you have been a party to a lawsuit before, sometimes right next to the question of whether you are a convicted felon or not.

Please talk to a lawyer before doing anything. Good luck.

 

yeah i would say fly out your contract and tell your regional that you can't go to class for a while. They won't care, they are hurting for pilots now, that job will be there in 3months. good luck