Paying Back Tuition Assistance

I voluntarily left my company. I had taken about $2400 in Tuition assistance - TA (something I considered a benefit.) On the company TA for it does state that after receiving the TA, a commitment to the company for 1 year would be necessary or the TA would have to be repaid.

My question is, how legally binding is the TA form? My last partial paycheck for $1700 was already withheld and now the company states I owe them an additional $700.

I live in Rhode Island but worked for the company in Connecticut. The company home office is in Maryland.

I would obviously rather not pay the $700 because I felt the TA was a benefit of being an employee of the company. I figured if there was a chance to not pay, great, otherwise I would give in to avoid any further problems. To be honest, because the company is relatively large, I would hope they would just write the remainder off. Wishful thinking on my part.

"On the company TA for it does state that after receiving the TA, a commitment to the company for 1 year would be necessary or the TA would have to be repaid."

You knew of this term and condition in advance and you took advantage of it, thereby accepting it, so this is legally binding on you. You should have stayed the year.

You might want to consult a tax professional because you will be paying it back and you might be eligible for some kind of tax deduction for education on your return because of it.





[Edited by buddy2bear on 02-23-2001 at 09:45 AM]