Filipino nurses for Ohio-based company say they have been forced to pay thousands in fees after signing training contracts
Filipino nurses are calling for the US’s top labor watchdog to review controversial “stay or pay” training repayment agreement provisions that have left them facing lawsuits and thousands of dollars in fees after they quit their jobs.
Training repayment agreement provisions (Trap) are contracts employers require workers to sign before beginning a job and stipulate that if a worker leaves the job before a specified time, they owe substantial fees.
Nurses who worked for the Ohio-based CommuniCare Family of Companies, one of the largest providers of post-acute care in the US, say they have been subjected to buyout fees of thousands of dollars when they resign and have been sued by their former employer.
Jeddalyn Ramos, a 30-year-old from the Philippines worked for four months at a CommuniCare-owned short-term and senior rehab facility in Pittsburgh in 2022 and paid $15,555.45 in fees when she quit her job.
I’ve never heard of one of these agreements that demanded a reasonable amount for leaving early. They always way overvalue the training or other services like immigration they provide. In my group where I work, brand new people aren’t really useful during their first year due to the amount of training and specific domain knowledge they need to acquire. If we don’t require this sort of contact, I am doubtful anyone does. Just provide a decent place to work. People will stay.
Exactly. Any employer that intends to provide a fair wage for fair labor doesn’t have this kind of bullshit contract. A TRAP clause is simply internentional premeditated abuse, and it should be prosecuted as such in the courts.
I mean if the number sounded like COST price it would sound a lot less predatory. If the financing agreement was separate to the employment (I.e yes, you can leave but you will still owe us the cost of the above on a reasonable payment schedule)
Reading thia article sounds a lot like indentured servitude.