Furlough with bond

[Mariokart]

Furloughed with a bond remaining. Does one still owe??

[mbav8r]

Furloughed with a bond remaining. Does one still owe??

What does the contract state?
It should have language regarding the length of furlough at which point you will be released. That being said if you find another job, I imagine you could fight having to pay it back. Read your bond, if you signed one without having a furlough clause, well I guess you have to decide what to do.

[leftoftrack]

no, basic contract law. you're bound by it aslong as you're reciving compensation. if you're furloughed, you're no longer bound to the contract

[mbav8r]

no, basic contract law. you're bound by it aslong as you're reciving compensation. if you're furloughed, you're no longer bound to the contract

Ok, thanks for the condescending reply. I have not studied contract law, basic or otherwise so, going on past experience, I’ve seen bonds with a specific furlough clause written in. Apparently the author of those bonds didn’t bother to research contract law or were hoping the signer didn’t. Either way, I have never signed one myself but glad the original poster is off the hook.
I would contact a labour lawyer to confirm because internet law advice is worth exactly what you paid for it.
Good luck

[Conflicting Traffic]

no, basic contract law. you're bound by it aslong as you're reciving compensation. if you're furloughed, you're no longer bound to the contract

I don't think this is correct. The word "furlough" implies that you are laid-off with recall rights. That means that the company still has contractual obligations to you, and therefore I would think that you have obligations to them as well. If you are not furloughed, but actually just laid-off, then maybe the bond is void, but I'm not sure.

In any case, don't take my word for it. Consult with a lawyer before you do something that could make your situation worse.

[lownslow]

Please oh please tell me you kept a copy of your bond for review. If not, ask the company for a scan or photocopy of the one on file that you signed while hoping they have enough people still on staff to care about doing it in a timely way.

[shimmydampner]

The word "furlough" implies that you are laid-off with recall rights. That means that the company still has contractual obligations to you, and therefore I would think that you have obligations to them as well.

Yeah, those contractual obligations include they pay you. Which they're choosing not to do. GET OUT!!!

[Meatservo]

I hate to sound like a sea-lawyer here but this is just my two cents when it comes to my philosophy on being made redundant AKA being "laid off".

Employment (without a contract) is a basic barter. They take your work; you take their money. Being made redundant is them saying "we've got enough of your work for the moment and we don't need any more. We'd like you to come back when we need more of your work". This is considered an acceptable move.

As far as I'm concerned, from a logical standpoint it should be an equal act to be able to say "I've got enough of your money for the moment, so I'm not coming in any more. I'll be back when I need more money". This is considered an unacceptable move. If you did that, you would be told not to bother coming back.

Now of course employers will always have the upper hand. It may be advantageous or necessary for you to return, if and when they ask you to, after being expected to fend for yourself for a while. A dog would do that if you decided to leave him outside and not feed him for a while.

In this situation things aren't that black-and-white, obviously. However I believe it's not a bad idea to consider this hypothetical point of view when trying to decided if you truly owe anything to a company that lays you off.

The first thing to do would be to scrutinize the "bond" paperwork to see if you actually did agree to remain beholden to the company during the period during which they expect you to help save their business and income by digging into your own resources and remaining in cold storage waiting for them to let you back in. That would be truly unfortunate.

Otherwise, I would say that the act of being made redundant cancels all your obligations.

I have worked at companies where employees have been "laid off". In each of these instances, even when these employees elected to return, it was explicitly stated that their bonds would not remain in effect should they elect to return. I suppose one could be charitable and chalk this up to basic decency on the part of those employers, but since that particular virtue was in short supply in all other respects, I would have to guess that there was a legal basis for this "kindness".