contract-law
Can a company prevent you from leaving, because if they left they wouldn&#39;t be able to operate at all?
<p>Can a company prevent you from leaving, because if they left they wouldn't be able to operate at all? I am wondering if there's a law that prevents you from leaving a company. I got hired and in my contract there's just the salary and the yearly rate, but there weren't any condition in there. I might have signed other contracts though although I don't remember what those contracts were exactly.</p>

<p><a href="/questions/tagged/united-states" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged &#39;united-states&#39;" rel="tag">united-states</a></p>
<p>The Thirteenth Amendment forbids slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime. This means that, outside of unique situations like the military, an employer cannot keep you as an employee against your will. Any contract that denies you the right to quit your job is illegal. A contract might require a reasonable notice period or something along those lines, but it cannot bind you to work for the company for as long as the company wants.</p>
<p>While you can sign an employment contract without it being involuntary servitude, the Thirteenth Amendment is also generally read to mean that your employer can only sue you for money if you refuse to work. A US court cannot order you to work for an employer and threaten to hold you in contempt of court if you refuse. This doctrine predates the end of slavery, but the Thirteenth Amendment is among the reasons now cited to justify it.</p>

<p>A company cannot prevent you from leaving. It would be a crime for them to physically detain you. Their only option, if they cannot persuade you to stay, is via the courts. The courts will not create a company's &quot;right to exist&quot; that is superior to your right to work wherever you want (including nowhere), their only hope is that in leaving, you will have breached a contract with them. Even then, the prospects are small that the court will order specific performance (force you to remain employed), instead you would be required to pay for the resulting damage.</p>
<p>You would have a contractual obligation to remain with the company only if there is an express term to that effect (or, in some jurisdictions statutory provisions to that effect). If no clause guarantees that they can't fire you until a year after the signing date, they can fire you immediately. If no clause requires you to stay on the job until some date, you can quit immediately. Moreover, an enforceable <em>obligation</em> to remain with the company has to be paired with valuable consideration, e.g. a &quot;signing bonus&quot;, which you may have to repay in part in case you leave early. Simply agreeing to work for a particular yearly salary imposes no specific obligations on you, other than &quot;you must do the work, if you want to get paid&quot;.</p>
