Legal Question in Employment Law in Arizona

Re: employee rights

First, I'm assuming that the contract to which you refer is not a union contract but a contract that is personal to you.

Whether the new company will have to honor the contract really depends upon two things, based on the facts you have presented. First, did the new company purchase your company, or did they just purchase "substantially all of the assets"? If the new company purchased your company, they also normally assume the liabilities, which includes the contract commitments. Often, to avoid liabilities, the new company will simply purchase most of the assets of the company, which includes goodwill and workforce in place. It can sometimes be hard for someone not actually a party to the transaction to tell which kind of deal it was. Even if they did purchase "substantially all of the assets", they might still be obligated to honor the contract, depending on the terms of purchase.

Second, is your contract in writing? Washington (along with most other states) is an "at will" state, which means that an employer can let you go for any reason, so long as it is not an illegal one. However, if you have a written contract, the employer will have a breach of contract problem if it does not honor the contract. If your employment agreement was for less than a year, it would not technically need to be in writing, but as a practical matter, it would be difficult to enforce. If the agreement was for more than one year (from the date it started, not from now) then it would need to be in writing to be enforceable.

Good luck, and if things don't work out, I would be happy to talk to you further about your case.