Hello,
I appreciate your read. I am looking for advice to pass a long to a family member who is in a difficult situation.
For ease of reference my family member will be refenced as – FM
The shiesty employer will be – SE
FM accepted a position this last year with a sign-on bonus to stay at the company for a certain length of time. I am not aware of specifics of the sign on bonus. The role in question is sales management for a home décor fabricator. The person who accepted this role did not have specific experience in the décor business, selling or manufacturing, but posses over a decade in sales management elsewhere – this concern was brought up by FM numerous times prior to the role acceptance. There was a mutual agreement of employment offer and the job offer was accepted.
A bit of backstory of SE so you can have an understanding of where i am coming from. They are ~140m company that is family owned. The family is overtly religious and that is included in almost all aspects of the business. Their shit don't stink. During Covid if you were to wear a mask you would essentially be ostracized and singled out. There was a mask mandate in the state and the company did not comply or enforce it – with the intention of fighting and delaying it in court. They have a tarnish relationship all over the region but somehow still retain a name associated with quality. There is one instance of an elderly customer making multiple payments in full and the company keeping the money all while knowing the entire situation. There was another instance of a sales promotion meeting in which the principle topic was increasing sales by cold calling. I hope this paints a picture of these awful humans.
Onto the quest for advice.
Everything was going well for a while. FM was learning the ropes at this company, but without specific product experience the learning was going slower than the upper management wanted. Unfortunately what the initial job offer was, and what it turned out to be were very different things. The immediate manager acknowledged this and apologized for it. The job requirements had changed 3 times. The changes came from verbal conversation and via email. The job role did not work out for FM. FM was offered another position else where and took it. They submitted their resignation before the agreed upon sign on bonus and was asked to leave the jobsite that day.
SE is after their sign-on bonus they previously paid out. Is there any leg to stand on regarding their request for the funds back with the consideration of what is a bait and switch job offer?
I hope y'all are well and appreciate your thoughts and feedback.