When You Have to Repay a Tuition Benefit, is the Repayment Prorated

[throwaway1]

My question involves employment and labor law for the state of: Texas.

I recently resigned from my previous employer and they are looking for repayment, which is fine, but I would like to pay the pro-rated amount (significantly less of course). The policy reads "the employee shall repay for all expenses paid in the last 12 months of their employment."

I spoke to someone in payroll and they said that they have seen pro-rated tuition assistance payback before, HR doesn't seem to be as helpful.

My only potential bargaining chip is that my final paycheck and remaining vacation hours were garnished in an attempt to recover some of the funds. In the education policy there is no permission given to my previous employer stipulating that this is acceptable. According to the Texas Payday Law, an organization cannot garnish final wages in an attempt to recover company property (read tuition assistance). They must exercise other options such as small claims court, etc, to recover...

So does it look like I'm paying back the full amount, repayment terms to be determined, or do I have a bargaining chip with them garnishing my final wage and vacation time? Would it help to have an attorney write a letter for $200?

[eerelations]

There are no laws governing tuition reimbursement, or the repayment thereof. This means employers may legally expect repayment at rate ranging from 0% to any amount more than what they reimbursed in the first place.

Your employer's policy says "all expenses" and it seems to me that your employer means just that - all expenses. If your employer expected employees to pay a pro-rata amount, then I suspect it would have included the words "pro-rata" somewhere in the policy.

Just because your employer has pro-rated other former employees' tuition reimbursement paybacks does not mean it is legally required to do so with you.

You may try to recoup what was deducted from your final pay by filing a claim with the Texas DOL. First make sure that you didn't sign any documents authorizing this deduction. If you did, the Texas DOL probably can't help you.

If you didn't sign an authorization as described above, the Texas DOL may order your money returned to you. However, keep in mind that if your former employer then decides to sue you for the money, it will win.

I'm not sure what you expect a lawyer to say in this letter you plan to pay $200 for. All a lawyer could possibly say is something to the effect of "While there are no laws pertaining to the repayment of tuition reimbursement, I demand that you pro-rate throwaway1's repayment just because I'm a lawyer and I went to the trouble of writing this letter that has no standing in law."

I don't know about you, but I sure wouldn't pay $200 for something like this!

[throwaway1]

Thanks for the quick response.

I thought was going to be the case, but I just wanted to confirm. Looks like I'll have to bite the bullet. On the upside I did have the cash on hand to accumulate interest for a few months before having to give it back.

[Foster_Foster]

Er, I wouldn't presume that a unilateral declaration in a company policy like that was enforceable at ALL.

They aren't entitled to deduct from your wages without your consent (and we cannot know if you ever signed anything to this effect).

"So does it look like I'm paying back the full amount, repayment terms to be determined, or do I have a bargaining chip with them garnishing my final wage and vacation time? Would it help to have an attorney write a letter for $200?"

The questions are a bit garbled. You don't have to repay them a thing unless a court orders you to, and you're free to file a wage claim with the state labor dept for anything they unilaterally withheld. I don't see the benefit of an attorney (and it's not at all clear whether you mean they are claiming you owe $200 or whether you're talking about the price some lawyer is saying the ltr would cost).