Got my dream job and have to leave employment contract early. Now facing serious legal issue.

Negotiate for a smaller fee? Ask your new employer to help cover the cost? Talk to a lawyer? Don't take the new job?

wherever you go, there you are.

focus on making the trials.

Without the details of your contract (a $150k failure-to-notify breach clause is certainly not main-stream in job employment) and business, this is just about impossible to answer.

hippisces wrote:

TLDR:

Got offered dream job, took it, have to quit current job (I gave them 1 month notice but the contract needed 3 months notice). I offer to work the last month for free just to get out of the contract and got denied.

This contract breach will cost me 150k .

Now what?

Please help me olmighty letsrun.

If the breach will cost you 150k you are making enough to pay for a lawyer

Don't sign contracts you can't or are unwilling to fulfill?

I am really curious: what field requires a 90 day notice to leave a job?

$150K penalty seems strange---I have never heard of this. Again curious about the field.

Luv2Run wrote:

I am really curious: what field requires a 90 day notice to leave a job?

$150K penalty seems strange---I have never heard of this. Again curious about the field.

As am I.

What profession places such a value on an employee that if they leave, no matter the reason, a $150k fine is assessed. Spouse gets sick, maybe cancer , have to move for treatment purposes, fined. Parents get old and sick, have to move closer to them to manage their care, fined. Child is diagnosed with some type of problem and needs to be in another part of the country, fined. Not doing well, clinically depressed or on the verge of a nervous breakdown of some type of psychotic episode, fined. Get it? It seems like an unenforceable contract.

So, there are many reasons that an employee might need, or in your case, WANT to leave, none of which is the current employers business. This seems like a forced labor situation, slavery? How can any business MAKE you work? Now, if there was some type of huge signing bonus($150k) that was prepaid or if it was an educational payback situation, ala Twin Peaks. Perhaps you are a new doctor that owes a small rural town a set amount of time to pay back your student loans, and it will take them 90 days to get someone in there to care for the town....either way, I still don't see how in this country you can be forced to stay anywhere. It interferes with your pursuit of happiness, a basic right. So what kind of job is it, just tell us generally speaking to satiate our curiosity.

I am on a 3 month notice period if I hand in my notice. All jobs in my field would also have the same notice period so if I were to move jobs my new employer would understand and be prepared that I need to serve my notice.

I’d be more concerned that your new employer will not let you serve your current contracted notice period with the company you are leaving. If they are that inflexible then it sounds as if it wouldn’t actually be a dream job!! If you are worth it to them then they would let you serve the 3 month notice before joining their company.

It is a five years contract- and yes I understand I should have negotiated the clauses before I sign,

According to my employer, I have to serve them for the entire contract duration and then I can consider quitting given 3 months notice.

They made it sound like they are not afraid to bring this to court and I will lose my license because they will file a complain to the ethics committee. They also mentioned that I could go bankrupt.

I am a physician, but I am still paying my student loans so was just trying to see if anyone could help/ share their experiences before I fork out more money for legal consultation.

Such a contract sounds like it will not be enforceable.

If your "dream job" really wants you it will still be there in three months.

I don't think we have all the facts here.

Even in medicine this seems excessive for breach of contract. Something doesn’t add up here.

And if it’s your dream job they should help with figuring out your exit strategy.

I understand that in the US, employees basically have no rights, but in the UK employment contract terms are usually deemed unfair if they are not bilateral. Penalty clauses would always fail.

You need to contact an employment attorney asap.

hippisces wrote:

TLDR:

Got offered dream job, took it, have to quit current job (I gave them 1 month notice but the contract needed 3 months notice). I offer to work the last month for free just to get out of the contract and got denied.

This contract breach will cost me 150k .

Now what?

Please help me olmighty letsrun.

Are you in right to work state? You need to talk to an attorney.

When I switched to my "dream job," new employer paid all that I stood to lose (deferred comp, deferred bonuses, shadow shares, vacation etc.)... Work to split the diff and ask new employer to help cover costs.

Like other people are saying, it sounds like it would be worth the money to talk to a labor lawyer and get their opinion on whether your contract is enforceable. If it is, then your old job has no reason to negotiate and all you can do is try to negotiate with your new job. If this 3-month rule is typical in your business, the new company has no right to be surprised: they new you where employed when they hired you. This must happen all of the time when they hire experienced people.

Southern Charm wrote:

Are you in right to work state? You need to talk to an attorney.

What does this have to do with the topic being discussed? Do you even know what right to work state refers to?

It sure as heck doesn't apply to an idiot who signed a contract and then decided to break said contract and think they we would be no consequences.

all the arm chair lawyers are kinda funny.

You have a contract...you are looking to breach that contract. Simple.

Now you may get a court or judge to find the penalty or the 3 month notice as excessive, but then again you have to go through the process of finding out. There is where a local employment law specialist is valuable. Especially, if he deals with physicians.

Or you could pay the termination.

I think the best bet is to try to negotiate a settlement that all parties can be happy with. (there may be an arbitration clause in your contract) You need to have an attorney do this with you. Employers invest a lot of $$ to hire and recruit people. It's not unreasonable for them to expect to recoup those costs.

hippisces wrote:

It is a five years contract- and yes I understand I should have negotiated the clauses before I sign,

According to my employer, I have to serve them for the entire contract duration and then I can consider quitting given 3 months notice.

They made it sound like they are not afraid to bring this to court and I will lose my license because they will file a complain to the ethics committee. They also mentioned that I could go bankrupt.

I am a physician, but I am still paying my student loans so was just trying to see if anyone could help/ share their experiences before I fork out more money for legal consultation.

You are leaving out way too many details. Have you even served the 5 years of your contract? Reading between the lines, it seems you haven't reached the 5 year mark of your contract, at which point you could then put in your 3 months notice.

You are then saying you would work for free for a month, trying to make yourself look like the unselfish good guy.

Why is this $150,000 stipulation in the contract? Cannot imagine an employer would just put that in there willy and nilly and that you would sign such a contract unless they put in some kind of extensive investment in you and that you greatly benefited from. Again more details that you have left out.