Legal Question in Employment Law in Alaska
Mr. Thorgaard,
You previously answered my question about being fired for suspicion of being under the influence. You stated that unless I had a contract, I am considered an at-will employee and my employer can fire me for no reason. However, I was paid relocation money when I was hired. The fact that I was fired means that the company has requested that I pay back the $10,000 I received for relocation. Is that a factor at all when considering whether what they did was legal or not?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Yes.
The payment of relocation money suggests some sort of an employment contract. That's because, if they paid you the relocation stipend, there would have to be some conditions to the payment. Either that, or the first day you were on the job you could quit, and they would be out the $10,000.
Now, I suppose the conditions would not necessarily be tied to an employment contract. If there aren't written conditions, an implied condition would be that you continue working for them for some, un-established length of time. The problem with that line of thinking is that there is no way to infer what that length of time might be.
So, you could argue, there has to be an implied contract that you continue working for them for some indefinite length of time. For their part, one would infer that they agreed that you would have your job, assuming good behavior, indefinitely,
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