H1B notice period and breach of onsite contract money by employer

USA H1B Visa
1

I am currently on H-1B with a company and looking for a change but have questions regarding my contract with my current company.

My currently company requires me to give a 90 days notice after I resign (as per their Indian employee policy).

If I’m not able to serve the full one 90 day’s notice, I would have to reimburse the cost incurred by the company for my Visa and other activities.

But they have not mentioned any specific amount in the 'deployment contract’s that I signed before coming to US.

I was looking at the Dept. of Labor website and this is what it says about this specific scenario:

“…Also, the employer may not require the worker to pay a penalty for leaving employment prior to any agreed date. However, this restriction does not preclude the employer from seeking “liquidated damages” pursuant to relevant state law. Liquidated damages are generally estimates stated in a contract of the anticipated damages to the employer caused by the worker’s breach of contract.”

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/guide/h1b.htm

The question is relating to “Liquidated damages”.

If this amount is not mentioned in the contract, would the employer be allowed to deduce this amount based on their calculations at any given point?

2

Deployment Contract

The employment or deployment contract that you signed is applicable as per Indian law.

We have shared a similar story from TCS USA exit here.

  • The company can ask for liquidation damages related to the project but not the travel.
  • The flight and other travel costs are legally bound to be paid by your sponsoring employer.
  • They cannot ask you to refund that amount if you leave.

Notice Period in the USA

In the USA, you can leave your job the same day (0-day notice) or whatever seems professional to you. There is no compulsion here.

In my opinion, if they ask you to settle the shortfall in the notice period, if any, will be in Indian rupees and as per Indian law. They cannot do it in the USA.

Normally, we advise people to leave the company on a good note. There are always ways to create a win-win situation for both employer and employee.

This would also help you procure ‘skill and experience letter’ if you are thinking of filing a green card later.