another employment bond case

i know there has been a thread posted about this topic here previously so please pardon me for bringing this up again. so here's my situation: the company i used to work for sent me for training abroad and had me sign an employment bond for 18 months. i left the company on my 14th month to pursue opportunities someplace else. after about 10 months i received a demand letter from a collecting agency asking me to pay the entire cost of training (which is around 350k). i find it odd that i'd get the letter 10 months after i left the company. another thing that bugs me is that my clearance was signed by everyone, including hr and training team, and i have been given my back pay and signed the quit claim. do these not constitute my release from obligation with the company? are there cases where the collecting agency actually pursued a case against the employee and what happens if i don't pay? also, filing a case in court would be logistically impossible for me since i am currently based abroad. please attorneys, i need advise on what my next steps are. thanks.

what is stated in your clearance?

Hi. I am just a newbie here. My case is I have an offer in Malaysia. The thing is they offered me a 2-year contract at first then so I accepted the offer. After I sent my scanned passport, they emailed me asking if I want to accept a 5-year contract with them, in which I have no other choice. From a 2-year contract, they made it to 5-year contract instead. Is that legal? And another thing, they want me to accept the 5-year contract first before they will send me the full copy of the contract. Is that ok? Or do I need to see the contract first before I accept that offer? For your advise please.

what if you accept their offer and the written contract says you will not be allowed to come back to the philippines during the 5 day period. note poea requires many contractual requirements for direct hiring, such as what happens to your body if you die over there.

of course wait for the copy and read it first.

I am a foreigner working in the Philippines as a local employee. Before moving here i signed a contract with the company that i am liable to pay the full relocation assitance amount back to the company if i voluntarily resign within a year. However due to certain situations that have been deemed by the company as serious misconduct , they have ended my probationary employment in less than 6 months. Now they tell me what i am liable to pay back the relocation assistance however my contract clearly states my obligation only due to voluntary resignation. Is the firm right in asking this amount back? There is no mention about my obligation to pay in case i am terminated within my probationary payment

can you quote the specific clause in your contract?

My assignment letter states'if you voluntarily terminate your employment with the firm you will receive no further relocation assitance following your resignation date. If you voluntarily terminate within one year of your relocation, the full cost of monies paid to you or on your behalf that relate to your move must be repaid to the firm within 60 days of your voluntary termination'. further on it asks me to affirm that ' in the event that i voluntarily terminate employment within one year of the relocation date i understand that i am obliged to return to the firm within 60 days of my voluntary termination the full cost of monies paid to me or on my behalf in conjunction with my relocation.'

My employment contract with the company states if i commit a material breach of my employment terms and in each chase the company shall have no liabilty to pay you any separation pay.

No where is there a mention about the clause of my obligation to pay back in case the company terminates me on grounds of misconduct or whatsover before the stipulated 1 year.

if i were the company's lawyer, my argument will not be based solely on the contract, but on equity also. i will also make the position that your voluntary act of committing serious misconduct should be considered within the definition of a voluntary act of removing your self from the company.

in any case, if you don't pay, then the company will still have to initiate a collection case in court to make you pay.

ok.. in this case if the act of misconduct is related to me venting out on certain non work related incidents on a social networking site , which the firm seems as discriminatory... how much equity will that hold.

Hi. Im very grateful that there is a site like this.
I have read the forums on employment bond and breach of contract and i think that my questions were somehow answered already however, i just want to make sure if my understanding is correct.

Im actually a gradute of legal management. And before i signed the contract, ive asked tons of questions esp on the bond part.. the thing is i attended first day of training but wasnt able to go to work the days after that..
i did inform them as to why i wont be able to report to work anymore

Im under the impression that it is only just for the company to require you to pay the bond since they have invested in you already.. but in my case, will that bond be enforced if the reason for such wasn't realized?
(i strongly believe that there's no 'investment' that had taken place yet since it was just day one).

Would they still have the right to collect from me?

Thank you in advance.

tralalalalila wrote:

the thing is i attended first day of training but wasnt able to go to work the days after that..
i did inform them as to why i wont be able to report to work anymore

Im under the impression that it is only just for the company to require you to pay the bond since they have invested in you already.. but in my case, will that bond be enforced if the reason for such wasn't realized?
(i strongly believe that there's no 'investment' that had taken place yet since it was just day one).

Would they still have the right to collect from me?

Thank you in advance.

I have the same concern. I attended two days of training but during that time, there was no confirmation of a training bond. When the contract was prepared stating that there will be a bond, that's the time I decided to resign because I didn't want another bond (since I've been working for the company for 3 years and 5 months already).

Now that I'm settling my exit clearance, they are asking me to settle my training bond.

1. I signed no contract or training bond.
2. I attended only two days of training (more like briefing with my colleague who transferred to the project first).
3. The training bond was formally announced only after I already attended the training for two days. Please note that the issue of bond was only a rumor (or a very likely supposition from employees and team leader) prior to presentation of contract because all the transferees from our team prior to my batch didn't have any training bond. Meaning, my batch (of three) was the first one to have bond due to recent transferees' early departure. Upon confirming the bond, I decided to quit.
4. The announcement of my transfer and its subsequent approval (from me) was made on November 2011. My "training" started first week of December, 2011. The contract was prepared by the HR department only third week of December. I resigned during the same week that the contract was finalized (December 21, 2011 to be exact). Any contents of the contract/training bond prior to the 3rd week of December were all supposition.

Is the company's claim of settlement for the training bond valid?


Thank you!

jayme, please read the other threads on employment bond.

again, there has not been any definite ruling on this employment bond except for the case of almario vs. pal

Hi Atty,

I read the other threads but somehow, I felt unsure since it's money we're talking talking about here. The threads are really helpful though and I learned a lot.

I went to the company yesterday to clear this and it turned out that the HRD didn't know that I wasn't able to continue with the training because of my resignation. It seems that my superior didn't submit my resignation notice to the department.

As of now, the HR officer handling my case told me that it's everything is fine now. She just have to confirm my resignation and our conversation with our Director and Vice President. The question now is, will they confirm it or will they claim that I didn't ask for permission and no talks happened.

send an email with what you discussed

Hi. I read the case of almario...and i don't think it can be applied in my case since there wasn't investment/training/unjust enrichment that can be established. Being it only the first day of employment( training) that ive attended.i just want to be sure whether or not i have a point in case they would force me to pay the bond. Thanks.

i agree, and you can argue that if they file a case against you.

Hi Attorney, can he fight to release the COE/clearance if his company refuses to? I have the same situation as his

he can try, but imo, in the end there is no law that requires issuance of coe and clearance.