[soundbarviolatr]

Hello All,

I am a US Citizen about ready to depart on a 12 month contract in HKG for a HKG company. I signed both an employment contract and a training contract. The employment contract states that they will pay me $$$ at the end of every month. The employment contract states that I will be commited to 12 months at the completion of any training they deemed necessary. During my training, I have had several problems surface with the company:

- The HKG company has played games with my pay for 2 months now and I have not yet been payed.

- Management is not the most pleasant people to work for. I have already been threatened with losing my job.

My question is this:
1) How enforceable can HKG contracts be to a US Citizen in the US AND IN HKG? The company is in breach of the employment contract from not paying me. However, if I finish training I will be committed to work for them for 12 months or pay the cost of training.

Can they come after me in the US for the cost of training should I decide to not take the job? At the same token, can I go after them for not paying me?

2) If I were to finish the training and relocate to HKG to try and work things out, how difficult would it be for me to quit, pack my things and come back to the US should things be too unpleasant? Can the company legally keep me in the country based on the training contract? Can they hold on to my passport?


Time sensitive as training is almost completed. I sincerely appreciate any inputs! Thanks!

SBV

[hello_there]

Originally Posted by soundbarviolatr

Hello All,

I
My question is this:
1) How enforceable can HKG contracts be to a US Citizen in the US AND IN HKG? The company is in breach of the employment contract from not paying me. However, if I finish training I will be committed to work for them for 12 months or pay the cost of training.
In HK, entirely able to make you pay $ for training, cannot make you work. In US, depends how much $ they want to spend trying to recoup their training costs.

Can they come after me in the US for the cost of training should I decide to not take the job? Technically possible, practically quite unlikely, unless they have a rep./office in the US.At the same token, can I go after them for not paying me? Not easily from the US, and not without expecting to pay for your training costs

2) If I were to finish the training and relocate to HKG to try and work things out, how difficult would it be for me to quit, pack my things and come back to the US should things be too unpleasant? I can't imagine very difficult, unless you consider packing your stuff, dealing with any lease arrangements you have made and getting on a plane hard. Can the company legally keep me in the country based on the training contract? no. Can they hold on to my passport? Do not give them your passport, ever.


Time sensitive as training is almost completed. I sincerely appreciate any inputs! Thanks!

SBV

See answers above.

[soundbarviolatr]

Originally Posted by hello_there

See answers above.

Thank you for your response.

~ based on your advice, it sounds like the most logical way about it is to finish my training and use it as a collateral to get my pay and stay employed. Of course that would mean that I would most likely have to take the job and move to HKG which I am willing to give a chance. If it were to become too unpleasant, would it be adviceable to turn in a notice of resignation and then leave HKG or should I just turn in the resignation from outside HKG -- sounds silly, but if they are able to make me pay them back for training, I would imagine that action will immediately come into play as soon as I turn in my notice and may possibly hinder my departure?

Any other inputs are very much welcome. Thanks!