My bf is a software engineer in another country and is being offered a job in the US and a H1B visa application. After a round of interviews, the company sent him a contract, which my bf believes is "very standard" yet there are several clauses I'm not very comfortable with. It might be because the labor laws at my country are very different from those in the US and very tilted in favor of the worker, it also might be because after years of lurking this subreddit, I've learnt that every instance where a company asks money from you to start working for them should be a major red flag.
So basically there are a few things I don't like. For starters, the company states that they spend a lot of money processing the visa application and the legal fees and ask for a $2,000 deposit which is refunded if you are hired or the visa application isn't approved, but not if you decide not to work for them. I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of a software company asking for for money to fill your job application. Again, my bf thinks this is not a big deal and should be pretty standard, but I'm not sure.
Second, the company states that the whole relocation process costs them a lot and if you should terminate the contract of if they fire you for dishonesty, failure to fulfill the ethical standards and a few more clauses, you should pay them what they spent relocating you. I'm talking about something in the low 5 figure. I'm VERY uncomfortable with this. I know that if you look at it from a benign perspective, it might look like they are just covering their bases in case you quit after 6 months or are fired for stealing or anything like that, but I'm scared it might mean they can hire you, have you working for them for 3 months, invent some crappy reason to fire you like "failure or neglect to perform duties" and end up getting money from the employee in the process. Again, is this a standard procedure in companies that bring employees from overseas?
Third, the contract has a very thorough and comprehensive list of ethical and non disclosure clauses, including working for the competition, that allow them to pursue civil actions if you breach them, and this extends to the 3 year period they hire you for, even if you quit or are fired. Does this mean he will not be allowed to work for another company in the US if they fire him after 6 months?
Any advice will be appreciated. I'm specially interested in learning about similar experiences. Thanks for your help and sorry for my far-from-perfect english.
Submitted March 04, 2017 at 10:50AM by throwawaymequieroir http://ift.tt/2lIu55Z
