Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Bonus repayment
I accepted a position with a signing bonus in November. Because of personal reason (health) and other work-related issues, mainly personal reason, I decide to resign at the end of January. The job was not what I expected it to be. Although the position stated that it's a ''manager'' position, the company owner had to have it his way or no way. Consequently, I realized this was not the job for me.
In the contract, there was no mention of how long I have to stay with the company for the hiring bonus given. Do I have to repay the bonus in whole/part?
The background: The hiring bonus was given to me to persuade me to move to the new company as soon as possible. The timing was that I quit two weeks before end of the year bonuses were given out at my old company. I told the new company that if I left before the end of the year, I would be losing out on the bonus. So they agreed to give me approximately the bonus I would have gotten from my old company.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Bonus repayment
It does not appear that you must repay the bonus. The new employer paid extra consideration to induce you to leave your prior employer early, thereby causing you to give up a valuable benefit. Either party may terminate the employment relationship at their will. Unless the contract expressly called for the return of the bonus if you left before complying with certain conditions, you should not be held liable.
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