Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Pennsylvania

I help people with debts, not employment issues. However, I offer a couple of insights into this:

(1) being offered a perk of employment is just that - a perk. This something offered by the employer and can be changed by the employer or taken away by the employer at any time. This perk may have strings attached - such as if you owe the store money then you cannot have the perk. (Query: why would you even want to work at a place that you owed money to???)

(2) as with other types of debts, creditors will offer a consumer an incentive to pay off old debt which may be barred or close to being barred by the statute. For example, a credit card company may be willing to offer a new credit card to a consumer IF the consumer makes arrangements to pay all or part of the debt. This seems to be what the store did here - they knew the debt was close to being legally uncollectible if not already barred and rather than spend money on a lawyer they figured they would be able to recoup some of their money by dangling this carrot in front of you. And it worked because you settled. Then the employer said "nah ... I don't think so." Its perfectly legal.

(3) When you settle a debt, that does not mean that you still do not owe the rest of the money. You still have an outstanding balance with the store. Settlement is for people who have a delinquency and who are not going to get roped in by any "carrots" of a future card or something else like your perk. It is an alternative to bankruptcy and usually gets the creditors paid more money than they would get in a chapter 7 bankruptcy so its a win-win situation. But when you settle a debt, that does not mean that you can ask the creditor to issue you credit again since you still owe the company a balance. I realize that the store here was offering a "pre-paid" card and not a benefit but I think the same principle would apply. They are offering a benefit to certain employees but not if they owe an outstanding balance to the store. You do.

You should not feel "swindled." It was you who defaulted on your obligation. You got merchandise that you did not pay for and for whatever reason the store chose not to pursue you in court. The fact that the store used a bit of trickery to get some money out of you is not the same as someone being cheated out of money by a scammer.

The law has a couple of maxims which I think apply here - one is "he who seeks equity must do equity" and "the law does not aid those with unclean hands." You owed a debt to the company. You did not have to work there and you did not have to pay back any part of the debt. The company was owed money and got back some of it. Legally and/or morally you owed the money. So how exactly were you the one swindled here?

And its typical after you settle a debt to wait 30-60 days for what I call a closure letter.

You probably will not be there after 45 days. If that is the case, move on and get something else. If you don't like what the store did, don't shop there or give them any business. Unless its some kind of a unique place that only sells one of a kind goods that you can't get anywhere else, there are always other options. They will lose untold volumes of business from you and your family or friends, much more than the amount you owed. So that is their penalty for being stupid. Just as you have learned a lesson about credit and debts.

I don't mean to sound judgmental or harsh but there are a whole bunch of things in life that fall in the category of "its just not fair" and this sounds like one of them.