Hi, Mike, and Welcome to JustAnswer. Thank you for your question. My name isXXXXX am an Attorney and would be glad to help,

I am sorry to hear about your employment situation


If both you and the employer signed this Employment Agreement and there are no terms of conditions which would violate public policy, then unfortunately, you will be liable to your present employer, if you leave before the term of employment expires,

At first glance, it might look as if your present employer has you locked in for a very long time and that would have violated public policy, but when I took the number of hours that the Employment Agreement requires you to work, divided those 4000, and divided it by a typical 40-Hour work week, it amounts to less than two (2) years, actually, it amounts to 1.92 years, to be exact, and this would not violate any public policy.


If the new position you will find is a very good one, one that you would not want to pass up, you might consider negotiating with your present employer to pay a lesser amoun than the $50,000 in order to have the employer sign a Release, thereby Releasing you from the Employment Agreement. If you find a new position and the company is very large, they might even be willing to contribute some money to be added to what you would have to pay your employer for the signed Release,

If you need clarification, please let me know by pressing the "Reply" button,

Thank you for allowing me to be of service,

ANDREA

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Hi, Mike, Thank you for your follow up questions,

1.
The amount which you refer to as "Termination
Fee" is more likely described in the Employment Agreement

As
"Liqudated Damages. Parties can agree to
set an amount as Liquidated Damages. There is no law or

Statute
in Alabama that would restrict an
employer from charging any amount. My Answer
would be the

same,
even if it were a deposit instead of something else.



2. Not Applicable



3. An employee does not have any
recourse against an employer if this is included
in the Employment Agreement because

A. It is not illegal



B. Employees sign these Agreements all
the time of their own free will. If they
did not understand anything in the Agreement, they should not have signed it.

4.
Liquidated Damage clauses in Employment Agreements are very common and
they are eforcible by the Court. The
bases of their legality are many, but one of the most important reasons is
because when an employer hires an employee who has specialized
training, or the employer trains the employee hiself and at his exense, he does
not want to see the employee just get up and leave and go to another employer
before the first employer saw a return
on the investment he made in the
employee.



5. It would be an inaccurate statement to say the laws of one State are more favorable to employees than the laws of another State. A blanket statement like
that cannot be made because it would not be accurate. It would have to be on a particular topic, or issue, and then compare the laws of each State on that topic or issue to determine if the laws of California are more slanted towards the employee on that particular topic or issue.

If you need clarification, please let me know by pressing the "Reply" button,

Thank you for allowing me to be of service,

Please remember to RATE my answer only when you are 100% satisfied that I have Answered your question. Not whether it supports your position. I hope that you can Rate my Answer as "Great Service". Remember: If you give any rating below 3 stars then I will not be paid anything for my time and effort in researching your question and furnishing you with an Answer and information.

IF you feel the need to click either "Helped a little" or "I expected more", please stop and reply to me via the REPLY or CONTINUE CONVERSATION button with the issue you have. I will be happy to continue further and do everything I can to provide you with the service you seek.

Hi, Mike, We must be having technical problems because I posted my Answer to this question this morning, Please accept my apology


Yes, your understanding is correct. This is fairly common in employment, even in California, This is not as bad as it sounds. It seems restrictive to you, but most employees wish they ad written Employment Agreements with teir employer ad it gives them job security, The employer is also bound by the terms of the Employment Agreement and cannot terminate the employee,



If you need further clarification, please let me know and I will be glad to explain further

Thank you once again for allowig me to be of service,


ANDREA