Training Contracts, are they Enforceable?

[Dep676]

I have heard that they wouldn't stand up in a court of law if they tried to go after you. I asked a company that I interviewed with about a contract. They said they don't make you sign one because their lawyer told them that a contract wasn't valid. The reason they gave was that they couldn't hire you and put you in aircraft that you never flown before. So they didn't make you sign one until they upgraded you. Because they sent all there new hires to SIC school and didn't type you. If you want to leave before it expires try and get your new employer to pay it off. If they want you bad enough they will do that for you. I hear of places doing that all the time. Hope this rambling makes sense. I tried to make it. Good Luck.

 

[KlingonLRDRVR]

Enforcable - short answer is yes.

tdvalve did bring up some good points. As always the devil is in the details. If the employer can show a reasonable relationship to the amount of money they put out to train you and you agree to it and sign it prior to employment or additional training it is likely enforceable on its face. Its a two way street. It costs the employer a lot to enforce either through attorneys or giving it up to a collection agency who by the way usually has an attorney and as an employee. It costs a lot for an employee to defend any type of action. Some contracts are actually somewhat fair as they are enforceable by the management should the employee leave on their own free will or fired for cause not just laid off becuse times are slow. In the end a judge will ask did the employee know what he was signing and did the employer do anything unreasonable to force him or her out. If you've got enough money you can tilt the balance almost anyway you want. Question is, do you have enough money to play that game? The above is a large part why I left the law. Prior to law school I just believed the justice bar was set higher than I found it to be in real life.

My advise is the same to employers and employees. If you tend to enter into a written contract you had better research all possibilities to your best effort (not necessarily your own - get help if you need it) and put only what you both agree to in writting and honor it. In the end you still have to look in that mirror at the end of the day and ask "Do I still come from a honorable house". Make the Klingon Empire proud.

KlingonLRDRVR

 

[DesertFalcon]

Well, it seems that everyone agrees, mostly, that "Training Contracts" are enforceable. If this is the case then I guess the individual needs to look at the value of signing the contract.

Is the time period of the contract too long?
Is the type rating or training of any value in the market?

Can the individual afford the terms of the contract?
Will the individual have future benefit by signing the contract?

How will the terms of the contract adversely affect the future life of the signer?

What are the escape clauses?

Etc. Etc..........

DesertFalcon

 

[bobbysamd]

Sometimes, you just have to be practical

Only my opinion, but if a training contract would have stood in my way of that commuter job I had coveted for so long, and everything else was equal, I would have signed it in a minute and with no compunction whatsoever. I looked at it this way. Chances are, I will be at the place for the duration of the contract, so, the length really didn't matter. So, as a practical matter, I was betting that my term of employment would outlive the contract. I never had a problem with training contracts, for the reasons that others mentioned above.

Many contracts which are forms with your names filled in may appear to be adhesion contracts. In theory, they might be. Once again, that theory will fail if use of these forms are a common business practice.

 

[pilotyip]

Training Contract

We have a training contract at USA Jet, 18K 24 months, I hate and wish we did not have it, but due to the behavior of some of our new hires we put one in place. We had a pilot who had a job somewhere else the other company told him to get trainined at USA Jet and we will hire you, he quit the instant the sim was shut down after his PC ride. Only cost us about 15K. We work in a terrible business on-demand air freight, so we want to scare you away with the contract if you really don't want to work, seems to be working. On the plus side it includes type ratings in both the DA2-0 and DC-9 if you hang around long enought to bid the seat. All the July new hires have no problem with the contract and they start at 33K per year.

 

[flydog]

Its all about integrity. If you promise to stay wether you have a contract or not you stay unless there is a mitigating circumstance.

At my company if you wish to upgrade to a larger aircraft such as a Challenger they require a 1 yr contract. Its a $32,000 type rating so they dont realize much return on their investement if you leave for an airline after 3 months. Also they could choose to bypass promoting from within and hire street Captains. I prefer the contract. Also if they fire you or let you go for whatever reason the contract is null and void. It is only if you quit.

As far as signing a contract with a new company I would try to make it a 2 way contract in that whatever promises they make are binding on them or the contract is void. If they are not willing to do this then the job isnt worth it and the promises they make are empty.

In my opinion if a company entices you to take a job by promoting rapid upgrade (we have all heard that one) and when the time comes they hire off the street because its cheaper I say screw them and their contract. Integrity is a two way street

Also keep in mind that wether a contract in enforceable or not is irrelevant when you spend $30,000 to defend yourself from a lawsuit.

 

[skydiverdriver]

Jim
Who cares if they are legal? Well, I do. Because if they are illegal, then it's the company's integrity that we should call into question, not the pilot's.

 

[Dep676]

I still don't think they are worth the paper they are written on. But now a days the way the market is I would think companies wouldn't make you sign them. I would just be happy to have a job. I would sign them just to make them happy and would probably stay. I have found the companies that make you sign them either don't pay very well or isn't the greatest place to work anyway. That's just my 2 cents though. If they pay good and treat you good you will probably stay anyway.

 

[skydiverdriver]

Exactly. The place where I had to sign was so difficult to upgrade, that they had to keep you somehow. I liked the job, but without pic time, I was stuck as an FO. I finished my contract, but always wondered if they were legal or not. I think these people keep bringing up the integrity issue because they are employers who know they are not illegal, or other employees who don't want to see someone else excersize their rights. Just my opinion.

 

[Thedude]

I see nobody has metioned a contract signed under duress. The company I work for decided to pop a contract on a new hire class on the first day. Not enforceable due to the fact that all of the new hires had left their previous employment for new employment and the contract was never metioned until the first day of class. Kinda underhanded company tactic by any view.