Tuition Bonus

[KMcK16602]

I am from PA. Here's the situation. I attended nursing school and this company came into to our school recruiting. I signed contracts and agreed to take a $2500 assistance check from the company in agreement to work for them for one year following my education. I worked as a nurse aid for this company for a short time as a nurse aid, then I began orientation as a graduate nurse. At this point I was unable to obtain my nursing license right away since I had a prior DUI. The employer offered me a part time nurses aid position but could not offer me full time since the union had certain rules. I declined d/t the fact that I could not pay my bills part time.
I then obtained my nursing license 6 months later and approached the company about fulfilling my agreement and was told that there were no positions available. Am I obligated to pay this money back? They are taking me to court to get the money.
Here's my argument.

First of all, there is no defined start date in the contract and due to the difficulty I had in obtaining my license I feel that 6 months is reasonable to start the position.

Second, I did attempt to complete my end of the deal. I approached them to do so and they declined stating that there were no positions available.

There was no misconduct and I was never disciplined for any reason.

Does this not put the company in the position of breaking the contract thus negate the $2500.

My loss here would be the $2500 and the considerable amount of money from wages/salary. How should I approach this argument? Am I on the right track?

 

[pattytx]

I recommend you show the agreement to a local attorney versed in contract law. You can get a referral for a brief consultation through the Lawyer's Referral Service of your nearest big city American Bar Association, and that's pretty inexpensive.

Such agreements are state-and-situation specific and we could not comment on an agreement we have not read in its entirety.