Training repayment agreement provisions (TRAPs),are a new form of “stay-or-pay” contract that indebts employees to their bosses. Often inserted into contracts without workers’ knowledge, these restrictive labor covenants turn employer-sponsored job training and education programs into conditional loans that must be paid back — sometimes at a premium — if employees leave before a set date.
Employers argue that these clauses are a way to recoup their investment in employees who decide to leave the company prematurely. But these contracts have come under fire from labor groups and regulators. Oftentimes, the amount of debt demanded under TRAP contracts — which can be upward of $50,000 — is far higher than the employer’s training costs.
SLAVERY, WITH EXTRA STEPS.
Aye, let’s add another good one in the mix, pensions! Good ol’ Golden Handcuffs. Its like companies have been trying for years to see what’s the bare minimum we’re willing to accept.
This is one of the reasons why job hopping in this day and age is a thing, and people in
right to work statesat-will states bounce with no notice. A pension was something that gave an employee an incentive to be loyal to the company and have a vested interest in seeing the company succeed. Lately employers are barely matching 401K/Roth contributions if they even do it at all. Employer sponsored medical coverage is another form of golden handcuffs if the coverage is comprehensive and low cost for the employee.I know I can get paid 20K more doing what I do in private industry, but my state job gives me insurance without a deductible that I pay $12 a month for, plus eligibility for a pension after 5 years of work, plus 4 weeks of vacation in a year. (With the health insurance I trade back 8 days of vacation time for a $110 discount on the premium.) Every time I think about making more money, all of those other perks make me decide I would rather keep the lower paying job I have. When I crunch the numbers of what my vacation time would be worth, plus the full COBRA price for my insurance premium, those benefits are already worth more than 20K. I don’t feel trapped, because I like my work and boss, but I can see how other people might make the choice to keep a job they hate when the benefits are amazing or better than what the current job market offers.
You probably mean At-Will states, which is all but one of them. Right to Work is an anti union thing.
Thank you for the clarity on that. I forgot that right to work means you can’t be compelled to join a union when your workplace is unionized.
With how most companies treat pensions these days, I prefer a 401k. I’d love for them to be the pensions of 100 years ago with stable long-lived companies that could be depended upon, but we don’t have that anymore. A single PE firm buying out your employer could raid the pension fund, or sell off the valuable parts of the company, leaving the smoldering husk of a company unable to fulfill is pension obligations. You may only get a small fraction of your expected pension payout in these cases when the company or the pension becomes nonviable. Thats what pension can look like today.
For all its faults, a 401k is yours, and goes with you. If (and I know this is a big “if”) a 401k account holder doesn’t make some really poor choices, a 401k and its owner’s contributions over the years can provide some of the best retirement savings for workers in the USA today.