We live in North Dakota and moved from South Dakota.
At some point after my husband was hired for the position here in North Dakota, we were told that we would receive $1500 in relocation reimbursement. It was good news to us, as we had no other way of funding our relocation, and probably would have accepted a different job offer that was on the table if we had no funds to move here. A few months after arriving, my husband learned that he could only receive the reimbursement if he signed a contract to work here for 1 year, and he could sign on for an additional year to receive a higher amount. He did so in October, and we received $2800 in October (we moved in August). The contract states that if he is terminated or quits before the first year, he has to payback 100%. He was just fired a few days ago. The only reason he was given was something about him not being quite what they were looking for- so a personality issue I guess. He was specifically told in a review a few weeks ago that he is competent for the job. Prior to being fired, he tried to address the issues that his manager brought to him, but her responses were vague and thus the issues were essentially not solved.
We are ok walking away from the situation. He enjoyed the job and most of his coworkers, but there were some personality conflicts his manager and him which made his job very unpleasant. But, in his termination letter, it states that we are required to payback the reimbursement by the 18th- just 2 weeks after he was fired. There is no way that we can possibly do this.
Is there any legal recourse for us? I understand that his former manager is allowed to terminate him for any reason, but because we were under contract, can she terminate him for a personality clash and then require that we payback the reimbursement within 2 weeks?
At some point after my husband was hired for the position here in North Dakota, we were told that we would receive $1500 in relocation reimbursement. It was good news to us, as we had no other way of funding our relocation, and probably would have accepted a different job offer that was on the table if we had no funds to move here. A few months after arriving, my husband learned that he could only receive the reimbursement if he signed a contract to work here for 1 year, and he could sign on for an additional year to receive a higher amount. He did so in October, and we received $2800 in October (we moved in August). The contract states that if he is terminated or quits before the first year, he has to payback 100%. He was just fired a few days ago. The only reason he was given was something about him not being quite what they were looking for- so a personality issue I guess. He was specifically told in a review a few weeks ago that he is competent for the job. Prior to being fired, he tried to address the issues that his manager brought to him, but her responses were vague and thus the issues were essentially not solved.
We are ok walking away from the situation. He enjoyed the job and most of his coworkers, but there were some personality conflicts his manager and him which made his job very unpleasant. But, in his termination letter, it states that we are required to payback the reimbursement by the 18th- just 2 weeks after he was fired. There is no way that we can possibly do this.
Is there any legal recourse for us? I understand that his former manager is allowed to terminate him for any reason, but because we were under contract, can she terminate him for a personality clash and then require that we payback the reimbursement within 2 weeks?