Your employer says you owe them for leaving

Before you pay anything

1. Find the date you signed. The new laws only cover contracts signed after they start.
2. Check your state. In some states the clause is void, in others it only holds on conditions.
3. Ask for the costs in writing, item by item. Who ran the training, how many hours, what it cost.
4. Check the amount goes down. Most fair clauses shrink for each month you stayed.
5. Don't agree to it coming out of your last paycheck until you have checked.

A letter asking for the details

Copy it, fill in the brackets and send it by email so you have a record.

[Your name]
[Your address]
[Date]

[Employer name]
[Address or HR email]

Re: Your request that I repay [training costs / a sign-on bonus / relocation money]

I have your [letter / email] of [date] asking me to pay $[amount] under [the clause, e.g. section 4.2 of my employment agreement dated (date)].

Before I respond, please send me in writing:
1. A copy of the agreement I signed, with the date I signed it.
2. An itemized list of what the $[amount] is for: who provided any training, how many hours, and what it cost you per person.
3. How the amount was worked out, including any reduction for the [number] months I worked.

[If your state has a law: I understand that under (law name) a term like this is (void / limited) for agreements signed on or after (date). My agreement was signed on (date).]

Please do not deduct any amount from my final pay without my written agreement.

[Your name]

Your final paycheck

Federal law requires wages to be paid "free and clear": a deduction can't take your pay for that week below the federal minimum wage or cut into overtime you're owed (29 CFR § 531.35). Many states require your written permission for any deduction. In New York, a lawful repayment still doesn't let an employer take it from your wages without following its wage law (New York State Department of Labor).

If they send it to collections or sue

Reply in writing and keep copies of everything. If a law makes the clause void, say so in your reply. This is when a lawyer is worth a call: in California and Colorado a worker can recover lawyer fees, and in New York the employer pays yours if it sues on a void note and loses.

This is general information, not legal advice. For your own contract, a lawyer or your state's labor department can tell you where you stand.

Work out what a prorated clause would ask for.