Forced Contract

[Ethan Tune]

Jurisdiction

Tennessee

I've been driving a box truck for an art moving company since July of 2021 getting paid hourly at $23 along with my codriver. A year ago he said that if we both go to trucking school and get our cdls he would give us $35 an hour and even pay for our school which was $4000. Knowing that my boss is often sketchy and deceiving I was hesitant but decided I had nothing to lose since there was no work contract. After completing the course, our boss said "thank you now I just need you to sign this 3 year contract here or else you can pay us the $4000 that the course cost". Long story short we argued with him about how unfair it was and that we wouldn't pay him for it but he eventually told us "you can sign the contract or I will take the money from your paycheck and you can sue me for it" (I have an audio recording of this) eventually we decided to sign the contract because financially we would make the money back in a few months since the raise was significant enough and I didn't want to find another trucking job. Fast forward 6-7 months and my boss is trying to install cameras in the truck with audio to monitor my partner while we drive, which is my cue to leave since I spend 60+ hours a week in the truck and can't have my boss breathing down my throat. My question is if I leave, do I really have to pay the $4000 to him if I signed the contract or do is it worth taking legal grounds since he basically threatened me saying "sign it or I'll hold your paycheck from you".

 

[adjusterjack]

Sorry, you still could have said no. Withholding your paycheck would have been illegal.

Using a poker analogy, he bluffed, you folded, he took the pot.

Feel free to consult an employment attorney if you can't accept what I've written.

 

[army judge]

Dude is spot on, mate.

Sorry, you still could have said no. Withholding your paycheck would have been illegal.

Using a poker analogy, he bluffed, you folded, he took the pot.

Feel free to consult an employment attorney if you can't accept what I've written.

 

[Zigner]

...we decided to sign the contract because financially we would make the money back in a few months since the raise was significant enough and I didn't want to find another trucking job.

Ahh, so you signed the contract based on what you believed to be a fair "bargain," which is much different than a "forced contract."

Fast forward 6-7 months and my boss is trying to install cameras in the truck with audio to monitor my partner while we drive...

Your boss is a wise boss.

... which is my cue to leave since I spend 60+ hours a week in the truck and can't have my boss breathing down my throat.

Translation: I don't want my boss knowing what I do on his time because he might not like it.

My question is if I leave, do I really have to pay the $4000 to him if I signed the contract or do is it worth taking legal grounds since he basically threatened me saying "sign it or I'll hold your paycheck from you".

If the contract is otherwise valid, then of course you do. You freely made the decision to sign the contract because you figured you, hang on, let me quote it: "...would make the money back in a few months since the raise was significant enough and I didn't want to find another trucking job".

 

[zddoodah]

After completing the course, our boss said "thank you now I just need you to sign this 3 year contract here or else you can pay us the $4000 that the course cost". Long story short we argued with him about how unfair it was

It's not even remotely unfair. It's smart business.

What you should have done was to confirm the terms of the deal before you spent the money on the course. You should have locked it in writing before spending your own money on the course. That way, if your "often sketchy and deceiving" boss decided not to reimburse the cost, you'd have a written contract to back it up. Had you done that, you'd have found out before spending the money that your employer would expect you to sign a 3-year contract in order to get the reimbursement.

Fast forward 6-7 months and my boss is trying to install cameras in the truck with audio to monitor my partner while we drive, which is my cue to leave since I spend 60+ hours a week in the truck and can't have my boss breathing down my throat.

You can't? Of course you can. What are you doing that you don't want your boss knowing about?

My question is if I leave, do I really have to pay the $4000 to him if I signed the contract or do is it worth taking legal grounds since he basically threatened me saying "sign it or I'll hold your paycheck from you".

No one here has read the contract you signed. If you refuse to repay, you might get sued. If you get sued, you can try to claim that you were coerced into signing. Your boss will probably tell a very different story. We have no way of predicting how it will turn out.

 

[Ethan Tune]

Ahh, so you signed the contract based on what you believed to be a fair "bargain," which is much different than a "forced contract."
Your boss is a wise boss.
Translation: I don't want my boss knowing what I do on his time because he might not like it.
If the contract is otherwise valid, then of course you do. You freely made the decision to sign the contract because you figured you, hang on, let me quote it: "...would make the money back in a few months since the raise was significant enough and I didn't want to find another trucking job".

Sorry, you still could have said no. Withholding your paycheck would have been illegal.

Using a poker analogy, he bluffed, you folded, he took the pot.

Feel free to consult an employment attorney if you can't accept what I've written.

Fair enough. I believe you guys are right I was just making sure I didn't have any ground to stand on. And yeah I could have not signed the contract and let him withhold my pay and just take him to court for it back but at the time I didn't have the financial security to risk it. And I don't know why it's so crazy that I wanted to leave because I didn't want to spend 14 hours a day where my boss can literally see and hear everything I do. You don't have to be doing something wrong to want privacy. I get that lots of jobs require surveillance and if you're cool with it then that's fine but if you've ever driven with a partner for 14 hours a day you get into real personal and private conversations that you don't want your boss or anyone for that matter to hear. I do really appreciate all of your responses though! Y'all were a huge help

 

[Ethan Tune]

It's not even remotely unfair. It's smart business.

What you should have done was to confirm the terms of the deal before you spent the money on the course. You should have locked it in writing before spending your own money on the course. That way, if your "often sketchy and deceiving" boss decided not to reimburse the cost, you'd have a written contract to back it up. Had you done that, you'd have found out before spending the money that your employer would expect you to sign a 3-year contract in order to get the reimbursement.




You can't? Of course you can. What are you doing that you don't want your boss knowing about?




No one here has read the contract you signed. If you refuse to repay, you might get sued. If you get sued, you can try to claim that you were coerced into signing. Your boss will probably tell a very different story. We have no way of predicting how it will turn out.

Well I never actually spent my money on the course to begin with. The company paid for the course and said they were paying for the course from the beginning without ever mentioning a contract. It wasn't until after we got our cdl that they said there was a contract. I definitely wouldn't have spent my own money to do that.

 

[Ethan Tune]

Well I never actually spent my money on the course to begin with. The company paid for the course and said they were paying for the course from the beginning without ever mentioning a contract. It wasn't until after we got our cdl that they said there was a contract. I definitely wouldn't have spent my own money to do that.

Sorry, you still could have said no. Withholding your paycheck would have been illegal.

Using a poker analogy, he bluffed, you folded, he took the pot.

Feel free to consult an employment attorney if you can't accept what I've written.

Yeah but I still would have taken him to court over the money he told me he was going to take. He has not paid us for work in the past and would do it again