Is my contract with my employer legal if they did not reaveal all of the requirments of the job to me before I signed it?
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Is my contract with my employer legal if they did not reaveal all of the requirments of the job to me before I signed it?
I signed a contract with my employer (the federal government) in which I agreed to stay for 2 year after I was fully qualified at the job. The contract states that f I decide to leave before this period, I must pay back the amount of money they spent to train me, prorated by the length of my stay. I do not feel like everything was revealed to me about the position including the fact that I would be forced to travel, forced to work overtime, odd shifts, and forced to come in on weekend. Do I have a case to break this contract, and if so, what evidence do I need to gather?
Asked on August 19, 2012 under Employment Labor Law, Washington
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 11 years ago | Contributor
No, you do not have a case to legally break your contract.
1) By signing the contract, you are legally presumed to have agreed to it. If you did not have enough information, the correct option was to not sign until you did. You cannot sign and then say you didn't understand all the terms.
2) Employers can at will require employees to travel, work odd shifts, work overtime, and come in on weekends UNLESS there is an employment contract which specifically forbids it. In the absence of specific contractual restriction, your employer has free reign to do this, and does not need to put it into the contract, just like an employer does not need to put into a contract that an employee will follow his/her manager's instructions--somethings are simply givens.
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