By law, do I have to pay my employer the agent fee it incurred in hiring me if I break the contract?
Get Legal Help Today
Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save
Secured with SHA-256 Encryption
By law, do I have to pay my employer the agent fee it incurred in hiring me if I break the contract?
I was hired by my employer from abroad on a 3 year at will contract. Now I am moving to another job after working for 15 months. My employer paid $7500 to the agent in hiring me from abroad. Now it is asking me to pay back the fees it paid to the agent on a prorata basis.
Asked on May 16, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Texas
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
As a general matter, employees do not need to repay recruiter or agent fees. However, if there was an employment contract and you breached its terms--for example, the contract was for 3 years, but you left around half-way through--the employer would have a claim for the damages it suffered due to your breach, such as for for some (e.g. a pro rata portion) of the agent or recruiter fees which it paid but has not gotten the value of. While for a definitive answer, you need to have an attorney review the precise language of the contract with you, from what you write, this may be one of the rare occasions where an employee does need to repay a hiring fee of this type.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.