Legal Question in Employment Law in California

I was hired on a non-forgiveable draw basis and was given a signing bonus of $50,000, forgiveable after 2 years (50% after 1 year). I was promised certain things that made me decision to quit my current job and accept the new job. For instance I was promised an assistant who would take care of my paperwork and promised tools that would be shared with me that would make me a million dollar producer. I am a financial advisor by trade. I accepted the job and immediately realized that I would not be given what was promised. I had no assistant and was given no tools by my manager to help me produce. Due to my hopeless case and the horrible territory I was given, I ultimately made the decision to leave this company even if that meant that I did not fulfill my two year obligation for my sign on bonus. My previous company is now asking for the 50% of my sign on bonus back, but I feel that since the promises that were made to me were never fulfilled, that I should not be obligated to pay this back. I feel this is an implicit breach of contract. Am I obligated to pay this sign on bonus back?


Asked on 2/03/12, 5:33 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Not every breach of contract allows the other party to breach their obligations under the contract. In fact the standard pleading of breach of contract requires the plaintiff to state that they have performed all of the obligations on their part to be performed. To get around that requires pleading and proving some exception to that rule that excuses non-performance. The situation you describe certainly merits looking into the exceptions and you may well have a situation in which your performance of your part of the contract - staying at least two years - was excused. To have even a reasonable certainty either way, however, requires going over the facts and proof in detail, which cannot be done in an internet Q&A format. You should contact an attorney in person about this.

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Answered on 2/03/12, 10:05 pm


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