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Repayment of relocation expenses (Employment & Labor Law)

Thu, 20 Apr 2000 19:40:00 GMT
Tags: employer, employment, expenses, hired, individual, labor, law, relocation, repayment, state, texasdescriptioni, working

STATE IS TEXAS
DESCRIPTION
I started working for a new employer in January 1998. My Offer of Employment Letter said that I was hired as an Individual Contributor with the tittle of Senior Manufacturing Engineering Consultant. My employer paid for my relocation from Chicago to Austin. According to my employer the total cost for relocation was $24,202. Prior to employment I was required to sign a Relocation Reimbursement Agreement that prorated the cost of relocation equally over a 24-month period. This agreement was included as an attachment to the Offer of Employment Letter. After 3 months on the job my employer changed the position from an Individual Contributor to an Engineering Manager position. As an Engineering Manager I was required to manage direct reports. I did not receive an increase in pay . In good faith, I tried to work as an Engineering Manager. The working environment was extremely fast paced and very stressful. With the added responsibilities of a manager my health declined, and my quality of life was very poor. Over an 11 month period, I requested to my immediate management at least three times to return to an Individual Contributor position. I was told that this was not possible. Also, For some reason my peers within my group knew what my salary was, and that it was 15% to 20% higher then what they were making. They resented this and I would receive constant harassment in the weekly staff meetings about this. After nine months of observing this, my immediate manager had to step in and take formal action to stop the harassment. The harassment added to the stress levels. I was forced to choose between resigning or further compromising my health and well being. I resigned on 4/16/99 after working for 15.25 months. During the exit process my employer indicated that I owed $8,713 as a balance on the relocation expenses. Per the relocation agreement, they deducted $2,540 dollars from my last paycheck leaving an outstanding balance of $6,172. During the exit process I appealed my employers position on repayment of relocation expenses with two levels of my immediate management, and three levels of Human Resources. My appeals were rejected even though there is a formal policy that allows for exceptions to repayment of relocation expenses. After leaving the company I received three written notices over a period of 11 months from the Benefits Accounting Department requesting repayment. I replied to the notices indicating that the claim was not valid. Eleven months after I resigned, my previous employer sent the claim to collections. I have been in contact with the collection agency and told them that I am seeking legal advice. I need help. I agreed to work for my employer and sign the relocation agreement with the consideration that I would work as an Individual Contributor. They changed the job after 3 months. In good faith I tried to work as an Engineering Manager. This position was too stressful and unhealthy for me, but my employer would not change it back. I believe that my employer breached the agreement in the Offer of Employment Letter that stated that I was hired as an individual contributor, and the claim is not valid.
QUESTIONS
1) Does my case have any merit?
2) How do I go about resolving the issue?
3) Do I work with the collection agency or my previous employer?
4) Can I get back the $2,540 that was withheld from my last paycheck.
OTHER POSSIBLY RELEVENT INFORMATION
My employer has a long standing policy stating that employees that leave the company before the expiration of their relocation contract are required to repay expenses on a prorated basis. I was told second hand that prior to December of 1998 my employer did not consistently enforce its policy, and that people who left the company before their relocation contract expired did not repay the outstanding pro-rated balance. I confronted two HR people with this question directly. They provided no answer and basically stonewalled me on this question. I have taken several classes regarding discrimination, company policy, and legal issues. I thought that I remember that a company must enforce its policies equally across the board for them to be valid and legally enforceable.
My employer has two reimbursement policies. If relocation costs are less then 20k the costs are prorated over 12 months. If the costs are greater then 20k they are prorated over 24 months. This does not seam fair to me.
Prorate 20k over 12 months and you get the following
$20,000 / 12 months = $1666 deducted from the balance per month Per my employers policy they are willing to deduct up to $1666 per month from expenses incurred
I worked for 15 months and if you deduct $1666 per month then I paid off the expenses.
15 months x $1666 deducted per month = $24,990 total deducted during my employment
The total cost of moving expenses was $24,202
I end up being substantially penalized for being slightly over the $20k point. Under the 24 month prorated agreement I can only deduct $1,008 per month
$24,202 total expenses / 24 months = $1,008 deducted per month
This leaves me with the balance of $8,713 after 15.25 months of work
The total cost to my employer for my moving expenses was $24,202. It would have cost me $4,202 out of my pocket to prorate my moving expenses over 12 months.
With the relocation expenses prorated over 24 months and leaving after 15.25 months I will have to pay $8,713 out of my pocket.

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