A close friend of mine worked at Google and got a sign on bonus. He only lasted 8 months in the role and had to leave for personal reasons that were out of his control. His boss was kind of a dick about his situation and essentially denied short term leave or a team switch (this is my friends story, Iām sure thereās two sides to it but whatever). His offer letter stipulated that leaving prior to his one year anniversary would mean he has to pay back a prorated portion of his sign on. He just got an email yesterday from Google asking for that overpayment back. Iām fully aware he signed a binding legal contract. Iām not asking about that. I am asking, however, if anyone has experience with this? The amount requested back is just over $12,000. - What will Google do to pursue this further, if anything? - It canāt be worth Googleās time and resources to go to great lengths to get this $12k back, right? - My friend is currently not working. Does G work with people in financial hardships like this? My friend is also having a lawyer look into CA employment laws and it looks like this clause might actually be unenforceable. (EDIT: I might have misunderstood this part may not be true) Anyone with experience in this area with any sort of insight is much appreciated šš¼ just trying to help my friend out, heās been going through it lately. Without giving too much tea, he has a sick family member who needs care & a side hustle opportunity heās not ready to give up and it was too much with work. My TC: 170-180ish Friendās TC: 0 EDIT: perhaps honesty is the best policy and my friend just calls the overpayment team at Google to explain his situation and make a case to not repay? Theyāre Googley, maybe theyāll understand?
Hmm I'm in CA and have never heard about this clause being unenforceable, know several people who have paid their bonuses back. Do you know on what basis the lawyer said that?
I do not, friend only briefly mentioned that. Maybe I misunderstood that and heās just looking into if it is enforceable
If he does pay it back, make sure to ask for a revised w-2 for the year he received the payment. He is entitled to a refund of tax paid after reimbursement
I had the same situation with Amazon. Asked them for tax documents. Never got back to me. Never paid them back.
Big brain move to put it back on them Also will pass this along to friend, thank you
Had this happen with Amazon. Got the letter, threw it away, never heard from them or anyone again.
Appreciate you sharing this. Hoping for the same for my friend šš¼šš¼
@blindbard, how much money was it?
LOL he signed a contract and needs to honor that contract. This isn't fantasy land where you get free money, and it's not a company's responsibility to take a hit on behalf of someone who left willingly after 8 months. It's honestly disgusting how willing people are to ignore ethics when it benefits them personally.
Stfu Nordstrom, I know a ton of people that get away with it.
Thatās a fair enough opinion. Mentioned in my post Iām not looking to argue the fact that my friend signed a contract and has an obligation. Just trying to help a friend and understand options. From an ethics standpoint my friend could have done a lot more to protect himself but didnāt. His manager shut down a short term disability leave last year and I urged him to go over the managers head, to figure out how to get some sort of medical leave or literally do the bare minimum until he gets pipped but he did none of those things as he felt it was detrimental to the business and his colleagues. He would not stretch his tenure out for his own protection. That would have costed the company far more than $12k but he chose not to. And large corporations are far from ethical in their treatment of employees, employees can and should play the same exact game right back.
Found a nearly identical post on here from a few days ago. Most people suggested to ignore it, they pretty much won't pursue legal action because that's losing money, if they go through a background check at another company and contact Google for verification,they may deny he worked there. Take this as you will, simply reciting what I saw people agree with
Thanks for this. We were talking about the possibility of getting blacklisted by avoiding paying, but didnāt realize they could deny that he worked there. Might be worth getting a background check done while they still might confirm he worked there lol. Pay stubs would probably work just fine to confirm with any background checks in the future though
Lmao what whyās he looking for ways out now? Surely he knew about this when he quit?
If the prorated amount is 12k after 8 months, a linear extrapolation means your friend got 35k after tax sign on bonus, which is 50k before tax. Where did they spend all that money in 8 months?
My guy did the math! Lol. Itās actually both relocation and sign on I just said sign on to make it a simpler post.
In that case your friend can negotiate it down saying money spend for relocation is spent and cannot be paid back.
If it's just an email communication, your friend can always claim they never received it. Email addresses are wrong all the time. How will Google prove they even sent the email without some kind of read receipt? Is there a paper trail? Even then your friend can say they moved out and didn't get that letter. Think on those lines
If he left on his own - heās gonna have to pay it back. Itās common practice
Theyāll farm out the debt to a debt collector Depending on how aggressive they are Your friend will eventually end up in civil court If he no shows there, heāll get a judgement Again Depending on the aggressiveness, heāll end up in court for garnishment If he no shows there, then expect his next paycheck to get docked
Thanks for the insights. Figured this was the likeliest path but just trying to understand options
Foreclosure of a bank account is in there somewhere too after judgement, if possible.