My company offered me a retention bonus if I promised to stay on for 2 years. I should've seen the red flag right there knowing they had been losing people, but I asked before signing if they offered a payment plan if I had to leave before the 2 years. They said yes. Well, again, should've seen the red flag because as soon as I signed they restructured some things and I became the only person doing my position. There was a lot of other shady stuff going on. I ended up job searching and leaving after 6mo of signing the contract. I'm pretty sure I'm obligated to pay it back, but wanted some advice just in case.
Some things to note:
I was employed by a hospital but worked in a school. The hospital was my employer.
No, there was no payment plan offered. So I'm expected to pay all 5k back in a month so have to take out a loan.
The school was not happy with many of the hospitals decisions and were gradually phasing out my position. I don't think the hospital knew this but they also showed they didn't care about the school program and had no desire for it to work.
I had offered to stay on part time and they declined.
I gave my notice in November. Never really gave them a final day date since I had told them I could stay on part time. They told me my last day would be whenever I was able to tell all my clients about my departure. Due to the weather, I was unable to do this before Christmas break. I told my company my last day would be the first day the school reaumed. Once they got all the data they needed from me, despite some of my clients still not knowing I'm leaving, they chose my end date for me.
I'm sure there are other things I'm forgetting. I'm also not trying to be super detailed. If you need more details, ask me.
Tl;dr: are there any legal actions I can take to not pay back the bonus