No Free Trial: Employers Are Taking Would-Be Employees To Court

// As an aspiring 0L touring law school campuses, I experienced my first taste of what law school classes would be like. It was a sampler of sorts — our professor wanted to give us a down to earth look at the significance of Contract law. If a man were to propose to a woman but broke up with her before the wedding, who owned the ring? Unsurprisingly, the class broke down mostly along gender lines. Most of the men thought that the ring was his — his giving of the ring conditional on the future performance of a wedding. Most of the women thought that the ring was a gift — ownership transferred the moment he slid it on his bride-to-be’s finger.

This classic dilemma is back with a vengeance in employment law’s clothing.

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When a Washington state beauty salon charged Simran Bal $1,900 for training after she quit, she was shocked….Bal’s story mirrors that of dozens of people and advocates in healthcare, trucking, retail and other industries who complained recently to U.S. regulators that some companies charge employees who quit large sums of money for training.

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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has begun reviewing the practice, while the Justice Department and Federal Trade Commission have received complaints about it. The use of training agreements is growing even though unemployment is low, which presumably gives workers more power, said Jonathan Harris who teaches at the Loyola Law School Los Angeles. “Employers are looking for ways to keep their workers from quitting without raising wages or improving working conditions,” said Harris.

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I get the feeling that this is one of those deals that would only work one way. Lord knows the legal fees would rise if would-be employees were able to take businesses to court over subjecting them to hours spent applying for or training for a job only to discover that the gig then went to lesser qualified person. I mean…wouldn’t it be awful to find out someone got a job just for sharing some red wine over dinner with the right people?

More U.S. Companies Charging Employees For Job Training If They Quit [Reuters]

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Chris Williams became a social media manager and assistant editor for Above the Law in June 2021. Prior to joining the staff, he moonlighted as a minor Memelord™ in the Facebook group Law School Memes for Edgy T14s.  He endured Missouri long enough to graduate from Washington University in St. Louis School of Law. He is a former boatbuilder who cannot swim, a published author on critical race theory, philosophy, and humor, and has a love for cycling that occasionally annoys his peers. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and by tweet at @WritesForRent.

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Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Employment law, Money