Am I liable to pay back CDA classes if I decide to leave the company?
Asked by
Jcoklan1 (
5
)
November 26th, 2013
I work for a daycare and they offered to pay for my CDA classes (child development associates). I started the classes in October with a few other employees. I decided after recent events to find a new job and I put my two weeks in today. Now way before I even began CDA classes a few of the employees at my job said before they made you sign a contract stating that if our company pays for your CDA classes then you would have to stay with the company for two years if you decided to leave then you would have to pay back the money that was spent on the CDA classes. None of us signed that contract. When I talked to boss about what we will do about CDA classes she told me she will have to talk to someone higher up. She said worse thing that would happen is we would prorate based on how many classes you had attended. But I told her I’m not liable for paying any money back since I never signed a contract. Am I right or wrong? I don’t wanna be stuck with paying money back when they never had me sign a contract.
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3 Answers
Are you sure it’s not in the original contract you signed when you started the job? Just because you didn’t sign anything new doesn’t mean you aren’t still liable based on something you’ve signed previously. Also, keep in mind anything you might have signed when the class started (such as a waiver of some kind).
Written contracts aren’t the only things that can create liability, though. If you made any sort of verbal agreement along these lines, for instance, you would still have to pay the company back. And depending on where you live, there could be a local regulation allowing companies to bill you for the classes. This is why it’s always best to be clear on the terms of a benefit before accepting it.
I have to disagree with @SavoirFaire – Oral contracts aren’t legally defensible except in a few very narrow cases.
Are you sure you didn’t sign anything?
@elbanditoroso It’s true that oral contracts aren’t legally defensible in many cases, but I didn’t say otherwise. I said that written contracts are not the only way to create a liability and mentioned verbal agreement as another possible way. Liability, enforceability, and legal defensibility are distinct notions, though related. Moreover, this is one of the cases where the oral contract very well could be enforceable. As @Jcoklan1 has just given two weeks’ notice, the prorated cost of the classes could be taken out of the final paycheck. And as I mentioned, a local regulation could make the presence or absence of a separate contract irrelevant. In any case, I agree that a signed contract is the real worry here.
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