Pay-In-Lieu Disbursement Agreement

[CmoreBaseball]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma I have received a letter from a past employer reminding me of our agreement. The agreement was 5 weeks of training for a years worth of employment with their company. During the 5 weeks of training I was only paid for 2 weeks. At the end of 90 days I was paid 2500.00 minus taxes for a total of around 1400.00, with the agreement of working for that company for 12 months. The company is calling this a signing/retention bonus. I quit after 4 months (9/14/14) due to constant management talks as well as stories on the local news of the company selling and pending layoffs. I received a letter on November 19, 2014 stating I owed them $2500 per our agreement and I have 30 days to dispute the validity of the amounts owed. Today, December 10, 2014, the program I was involved with did sell. There are 501 jobs effected by this sell. Some of these jobs will go to the buying company, some will be laid off.

The contract states the following:
If your employment with the Company is terminated with 12 months for any reason other than as a result of a reduction in force, you agree to pay back to the Company the full amount of this cash advance within 30 days of the termination of your employment. You also agree that interest will begin to accrue on any unpaid balance after the thirtieth day.

My question is, can I still be held responsible to pay the 2500 back since the program I was working on was sold? The reason for me quitting was job instability. This was a union job which the union has been fighting back and forth with over the sell. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[LdiJ]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Oklahoma I have received a letter from a past employer reminding me of our agreement. The agreement was 5 weeks of training for a years worth of employment with their company. During the 5 weeks of training I was only paid for 2 weeks. At the end of 90 days I was paid 2500.00 minus taxes for a total of around 1400.00, with the agreement of working for that company for 12 months. The company is calling this a signing/retention bonus. I quit after 4 months (9/14/14) due to constant management talks as well as stories on the local news of the company selling and pending layoffs. I received a letter on November 19, 2014 stating I owed them $2500 per our agreement and I have 30 days to dispute the validity of the amounts owed. Today, December 10, 2014, the program I was involved with did sell. There are 501 jobs effected by this sell. Some of these jobs will go to the buying company, some will be laid off.

The contract states the following:
If your employment with the Company is terminated with 12 months for any reason other than as a result of a reduction in force, you agree to pay back to the Company the full amount of this cash advance within 30 days of the termination of your employment. You also agree that interest will begin to accrue on any unpaid balance after the thirtieth day.

My question is, can I still be held responsible to pay the 2500 back since the program I was working on was sold? The reason for me quitting was job instability. This was a union job which the union has been fighting back and forth with over the sell. Any advice is appreciated.

This really is a discussion that you should be having with the union.

 

[CmoreBaseball]

This really is a discussion that you should be having with the union.

This was my first experience with an union.( job) I have not worked there for the last two months or have any contact with the union.

 

[cbg]

Then it's about time you made contact with them, isn't it?

 

[commentator]

Why on earth would you be so prissy and hesitant about dealing with the union, which might actually be your only leg to stand on in this situation? If there's any way you would be able to go around this agreement based on the sale of the company, they'd be able to help you figure it out. Going on and quitting a job like this, especially with a signed agreement like this that you would have to reimburse them if you didn't stay a certain length of time, when they're just about to close or lay you off or be sold was not a brilliant move on your part unless you replaced it with a wonderful new opportunity.