Is it illegal to break a job contract?

[Nik Arora]

Hi All,
I heard from one of my friend that according to new rules an employer should not hire employee on a contract. Does anybody know about this or any source?. How serious it can be if a job contract is broken?.Anybody have any experience?.



Regards
Nik

[Rahul Bhattacharjee]

Originally posted by nik arora:
according to new rules an employer should not hire employee on a contract.

Not heard of this before.

[Ulf Dittmer]

I heard from one of my friend that according to new rules an employer should not hire employee on a contract.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, but breaking any kind of contract (as opposed to terminating it in an orderly fashion) is generally illegal, and opens you (or an employer) up to lawsuits.

[Nik Arora]

Originally posted by Ulf Dittmer:


I'm not sure what you mean by this

Hi Ulf,
I mean to say that generally company hires employee on a one year contract or two years. If the employee signs the contract he has to work in the company till the contract time gets over.


Regards
Nik

[Roseanne Zhang]

Generally to say, it depends what country, what state/province you're working in. The law is different, and the contract is enforceable or not will depend how it is written too.

There is no universal answer for this question.

[Nik Arora]

Originally posted by Roseanne Zhang:
Generally to say, it depends what country, what state/province you're working in. The law is different, and the contract is enforceable or not will depend how it is written too.

There is no universal answer for this question.

In India and in Bangalore

Regards
Nik

[Aaron Raja]

I am not lawyer but per my understanding it is not legal in State of Georgia to enforce employee in that kind of contract. I think it is same in every state in US. But in India I personally don't know but multinational company like IBM, Accenture, Oracle and Sun won't do but not sure! It is not ethical to do that anyway?
Employer can't say you have to work this many months or year(s) with us else something! Even they can't say you have to work for us this many months because we offered you certain training! But they say verbally! Some company who do bring H1B people they do that because they want to scare those people leave the company once they come to US or have good experience! But keep in mind when there is Bonus or is involve they might do that! eg: x amount of sighning bonus but one have to work for y amount of time. Check with some lawyer there and keep us posted because it is important stuff for many!
So if you see any better opportunity just go for it!
That is healthy competitive practice in capitalism! "Survival the fittest" you pay more I work for you!!!
Good Luck!!!

[ June 21, 2007: Message edited by: Aaron Raja ]
[ June 21, 2007: Message edited by: Aaron Raja ]

[Nik Arora]

Originally posted by Aaron Raja:
Check with some lawyer there and keep us posted because it is important stuff for many!

I dont know any lawyer. I hope somebody will be knowing here and will post about the law in India.

[fred rosenberger]

I also am not a lawyer. but i don't think it's ILLEGAL to break a contract. something that is illegal is a crime - you can be put in jail, fined, given community service, etc. because you broke the law. the city, state, or federal government procecutes you.

Now, generally speaking, a contract is an agreement between two private parties. each agrees to give the other something. Often, the contract itself states what will happen if one party or another violates the conditions specified. So, there is nothing ILLEGAL about it.

That is not to say there will be no consequences if you violate the terms - quite the opposite. The person who breaks the contract can open themselves up to lawsuits, for example. There may be a judge and lawyers involved, but it happens in the Civil courts, not the criminal courts.

[Aaron Raja]

Nik,
Call some lawyer and find out? Man you can do it? It is one phone call or one office visit? Take responsibility and do it? Visiting lawyer may be some financial matter but Lawyer in Bangalore is not that expensive! and one who can code in Java and working in IT can afford!!! Common? You can contribute to other who might need that info!
[ June 21, 2007: Message edited by: Aaron Raja ]

[Ulf Dittmer]

I think there is some confusion over what is meant by "breaking the contract". To me that means not fulfilling the obligations it specifies, which can (and generally will) have adverse legal consequences.

But I think some people here understand it to mean how to prematurely end it. Each employment contract I've ever seen specifies how that's to be done, generally involving giving a certain period of notice (anywhere between 2 weeks and 3 months).

So, for the one year contract, you won't have to stay the full year, but if you want out early, you'll need to give notice in accordance with what the contract specifies. If the contract does not have provisions for doing this, then you'd better consult a lawyer.

[arulk pillai]

Check your contract to see if there is a notice period. Generally one month.

[Nik Arora]

Originally posted by Aaron Raja:
It is not legal in State of Georgia to enforce employee in that kind of contract. I think it is same in every state in US.

I heard that the law like this has been introduced in India. So, i want to know whether it is true or not.


Regards
Nik

[Jesus Angeles]

'Breaking a contract' is synonymous to 'illegal', in some context.

In the context of breaking the length of work in a company, where the contract you signed is acceptable to court, then it is illegal by 'law'. You can get sued.

I have contracted all my life, and all of them has 'termination clauses'. At one point, another company pirated me, which was done legally; the next company paid the termination fee.

However, if you think of 'breaking' the 'termination clause', then no one knows what that company will do to you, at worst of which is sue you. It will be your risk, as according to my experience, some companies cannot afford to sue, in relation to the amount of money they want as 'termination fee'. I say this as I heard from people, but I personally consider it unethical and I never did such.

[Jignesh Patel]

However, if you think of 'breaking' the 'termination clause', then no one knows what that company will do to you, at worst of which is sue you. It will be your risk, as according to my experience, some companies cannot afford to sue, in relation to the amount of money they want as 'termination fee'. I say this as I heard from people, but I personally consider it unethical and I never did such.

Well this is 100% true, company can sue or may not, but when you are not happy with the company and don't see your growth, you gotta take risk in your life. After all knowingly or unknowgly we are breaking laws at some point in our life.

If you don't take chances you will never grow..And make sure, when you take chances, stand up for the tough situation if it goes in wrong direction.

if Bill Gates have not developed source code on school device without checking on mainframe and lying-- yes they have tested on Alltair machines, there might be no microsoft.
[ June 22, 2007: Message edited by: Jignesh Patel ]

[Jesus Angeles]

If you do that, you will eventually pay. They will make you, even if it means pulling it through your nose.

[Chandra Bhatt]

Hi Nikhil,

Specifically in Bangalore India, I am known of the policies that there are
couple sort of rules.

1- Before hiring you, companies asks you to fill one bond. You have to pay
some amount that is deposited on the bank naming you and your company.
The contract is like if you leave the company before 1 year or so as per the
contract, the amount will be given to the company.

2- Second, you need to sign one contract that, you will not leave the
company, in given period of time, otherwise you will be subject to
be prosecuted.


This is an important and desirable step, companies take for critical
projects, first you join the company, learn the project, working criteria,
specific to company and project and meanwhile you leave the company in 2-3
months, all the effort of company goes spoiled. And the project may go
in danger. Each time a new employee is hired, it takes time to run with
that pace for the project. It would be a risk if companies don't make such
a provision.

These sort of policies are often found in job like Database Admin and System
Admin, as I am known of.


I am not a lawyer too

Thanks,
[ June 25, 2007: Message edited by: Chandra Bhatt ]

[Nik Arora]

Hey chandra i know employers hire people based on contract but recently from one of my friend i heard that a law has been introduced that employers cannot hire employee on contract. I wanted to know is it true or not?.


Regards
Nik

[Chandra Bhatt]

Hi Nikhil,


What details I posted above is based on the procedure I had seen couple of
times.

Case #1: My friend was supposed to be hired by a consulting company in the
Cennnai. The company asked for Rs. 70000. It gives training on SQL server,
sybase, sun soloris etc. It introduces the trainees to various companies
for Job. Per month it gives Rs. 3000 to its trainees. Rs. 70000 is for
bank guarantee. It is refunded to the fellow after he leaves the company
but after the contract period. There is no guarantee the you will get the
job, the company gives training only.


Case #2: My two friends are working as SQL Server DBA in Bangalore only.
They have signed a document, saying if they leave the company before 1
year, they will have to pay Rs. 75000 to the company, otherwise they will
be subject to be prosecuted.
The project is of US based big financial company. It is very critical, some
450 servers they have to handle + client requests and so on, as they tell
me.

My Opinion: There should be freedom of leaving the company BUT, you
can't enjoy your freedom while putting somebody in trouble.


Thanks,