Offer Letter / Relocation Package Question

[AllieGatorDad]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? N. Carolina

Good evening all, and thank you for taking the time to help me out with a bit of a sticky situation. I recently accepted an offer with a company that has offered a lump-sum relocation package. In the offer letter, I was informed that the relocation package would be paid 8-12 weeks prior to my start date. Well, today rolls around and I'm nearing 2 weeks to my start date and I've yet to see the funds. I contacted my recruiter / HR representative, and was informed that there was a recent policy change, and that I'd be paid the relocation package within a month of starting. This puts me in a pretty sticky bind. The offer I've accepted is significantly higher than what I'm currently making, and since I have 10 month old daughter, I'm the sole breadwinner at this time. That being said, without the relocation assistance coming now, I'm looking at having to put significant amounts of money on a credit card, which we've worked long and hard to ever avoid. Do I have any leverage in this situation? I've asked and gotten a response of "I'll ask payroll to see if they can make an exception", but I don't see that coming to fruition. I know that if I push it hard, I'm basically going to be giving this job up, as they'd most likely find another reason to let me go after I've moved my family across the county. Any ideas?

 

[Zigner]

If it's that good a job, put it on the CC. Maybe it's worth a little interest to land the job?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Many relocation packages require you submit proof of the expenditures before they pay out for tax reasons. Available and earned are not always the same. You have not indicated all the specific details of your package.

 

[swalsh411]

You can jeopardize the tax favored status of an accountable plan if you make payments excluded from income without proper documentation. Some expenses of a typical relo can be excluded from income, some can not.

 

[commentator]

What are you going to do if you go to the job, and submit your request for relocation fee, and they tell you, "well, we've changed the policy again, and you just don't get one. Sorry." ? You've got to consider this. Are you sure it says the relocation fee will be paid in advance in your hiring letter? Then you know what, I'd say, "Well, since I have the offer letter, which is a hiring agreement, and you have gone back on this agreement, I am afraid I cannot accept the job at this time."

IMHO, you're much better off to deal with this sort of waffling before you move out there and give up your present job and all those things. If they won't
(and I really like the way they put this, as if they had no control over the circumstances) "...get payroll to make an exception for you" then you don't need them and they don't need you bad enough.

I've seen far too many sole breadwinners and very nice people dumped on their heads by companies without integrity, who "promise them anything but give them nothing." And when they are hired, having loaded up their credit card to support the job change, they have absolutely no leverage to make the company continue to employ them, pay them decently, or any of the other things they've promised. I wouldn't take a chance.

 

[swalsh411]

What are you going to do if you go to the job, and submit your request for relocation fee, and they tell you, "well, we've changed the policy again, and you just don't get one. Sorry." ?

One would be in a very strong position for a lawsuit if they had a signed and accepted offer letter that said they would get relo if they moved and then the company "changed the policy".

 

[commentator]

And how long do you reckon the at will employment might last if one sued their new employer for not paying the relocation fee, particularly if this were a small, not so carefully regulated employer? I think this whole deal is hinky anyhow when I got to thinking of it. Not sure at all I believe OP got a hire letter, promising a relocation fee, and it was going to be over two months before the job was to begin. He must be one jim dandy employee if they're going to pay for him to move and wait two or three months for him to get there. And in the meantime, they've "changed their company policy." Hmmm. If I had a sure thing going, a permanent job now, I think I would think long and hard about this one. Sure, he's got the labor laws on his side, it sounds like, on getting the relocation fee, depending on what his offer letter says, but would it be a good idea to burn my bridges and relocate my family and find out these people were as unpredictable as they sound?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Another possibility is to rent a furnished room or apartment near the employer for a short term. If the employer never comes up with the relocation funds, go back home.

I don't know if that would be sufficient justification to leave the job and collect unemployment.

 

[AllieGatorDad]

And how long do you reckon the at will employment might last if one sued their new employer for not paying the relocation fee, particularly if this were a small, not so carefully regulated employer? I think this whole deal is hinky anyhow when I got to thinking of it. Not sure at all I believe OP got a hire letter, promising a relocation fee, and it was going to be over two months before the job was to begin. He must be one jim dandy employee if they're going to pay for him to move and wait two or three months for him to get there. And in the meantime, they've "changed their company policy." Hmmm. If I had a sure thing going, a permanent job now, I think I would think long and hard about this one. Sure, he's got the labor laws on his side, it sounds like, on getting the relocation fee, depending on what his offer letter says, but would it be a good idea to burn my bridges and relocate my family and find out these people were as unpredictable as they sound?

That's my main concern. The only big difference is that this is a HUGE, very highly regulated international corporation. I'm currently in the "suck it up and deal with it" mind-frame, but it just doesn't paint a good picture for the future.

 

[swalsh411]

And how long do you reckon the at will employment might last if one sued their new employer for not paying the relocation fee, particularly if this were a small, not so carefully regulated employer?

Not long at all. I was just pointing out that they could probably sue and win, not that it would be a good idea.

 

[commentator]

That's my main concern. The only big difference is that this is a HUGE, very highly regulated international corporation. I'm currently in the "suck it up and deal with it" mind-frame, but it just doesn't paint a good picture for the future.

I find this whole thing colossally hard to believe. Huge very highly regulated international corporations do not give you hire letters that enable you to start months after the job offer, and they do not "change their policies" after writing you a formal offer letter, and they do have to "see if we can run this by payroll and get them to make an exception." I think this whole post is "off."