employment illinois
Deduction of relocation payment from last paycheck of terminated employee
<p>Can an employer deduct the payment of relocation expenses from the last paycheck of a terminated employee in Illinois?</p>
<p>Assume the employee is being terminated before the time period specified in the contract of employment for the repayment of relocation expenses.</p>

<p>I've had a couple of employment contracts that involved relocation.
Every contract <em>can</em> be different, but <em>typically</em> they say that the relocation amount must be re-paid if the employee does not stay for a certain period (typically 1 to 2 years).</p>
<p>Often it must be repaid in full up to 1-year, and on a pro-rata basis for the second year.</p>
<p>Obviously, when the recruiter was telling you how awesome the company was, and you were excited to be relocated, they probably did their best to obscure the repayment clauses.  The real question is if they actively <strong>hid</strong> repayment terms from you.  If the repayment terms were not actually spelled out in the paperwork you signed, then you may not be responsible for them, regardless of &quot;company policy&quot;.</p>
<p>If the repayment terms were there in a signed document, but just buried 10 levels deep in fine print that you overlooked, then you may very well be on the hook.</p>
<p>Another angle may be that repayment of relocation funds may need to be made in some period (90 days or 6-months, or 1-year).  Since you just got laid off, you can try to demand your full paycheck now, and promise to fulfill the  repayment terms within the period specified.  That won't get you out of repaying the funds, but might buy you some time before you come up with the funds.</p>

<h2>No</h2>
<p><a href="/questions/tagged/australia" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" aria-label="show questions tagged &#39;australia&#39;" rel="tag" aria-labelledby="tag-australia-tooltip-container">australia</a></p>
<p>Deductions (other than tax) may only be made from an employee’s pay in <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay-and-wages/deducting-pay-and-overpayments" rel="nofollow noreferrer">limited circumstances</a>. There’s no point in reiterating what they are, but repayment of relocation expenses are not one of them.</p>
<p>There’s nothing illegal about the arrangement but it can’t be withheld from wages. The employee has to be paid in full and the employee would have a debt due to the employer which could be pursued in the regular fashion.</p>
