Home > Research Legal Advice > Employment / Labor > Can my 1099 employer force me to repay a training fee if I feel it is to...
Asked about 1 year ago - Kansas City, MO
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I have signed no agreements and I was not paid or given stipend for the 2 weeks of training in Kansas city, MO. I was told I would be given higher pay and a higher position in the company and they have yet to be given to me. I agreed to the training and verbally agreed to stay with the company after training but no time frame was agreed upon.
Promises where made to me and they have fallen through. I would like to go home and start a new career. My 1099 employer gave me 2 choices, I either go home and repay the $4000 training fee or I stay and work for them. Can they legally force me to repay this training fee? Would they be able to take me to court over this if I were to quit and go home?
Thank you
More facts are needed about this oral contract you made with this employer about staying with the company if they trained you. It's going to be pretty obvious that the company wouldn't invest in training you if you weren't going to stay so they could benefit from the training, and if there was no set time frame agreed on or discussed, a court would infer that a "reasonable" time frame was intended. What's reasonable depends on the facts of the situation, and factors like you not being paid for the training, how much time has gone by since the training, what these unnamed promises were that you state fell through, etc. etc., all matter.
See a business litigator to discuss all the details.
I suggest that you consult in person with an employment attorney because these types of issues usually require a careful evaluation of all the details. However, it is possible that you were misclassified as an independent contractor, and that you were really an employee. If that is true, then you should have been paid for the training time. You may also have a claim for unpaid overtime and minumum wages. As for reimbursing the training fee, it seems unlikely to me that the company could force you to repay the amount under the circumstances that you have described. Again, you should consult in person with an employer lawyer. Good luck.
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