Employement at will : question

[prashant_wit]

Dear friends,

Here is the scenario, my sister used to work for a small company. They were supposed to file her H1B last year which they did in November 2011, but till then it was too late and the quota was already over. He did not file her H1B earlier because he wanted to save money (I guess he must have saved some money on taxes).

After this she found a better job offer and in a better company so she gave him the written notice and left that job and then joined another company (New Company has nothing to do with the old company, they are not the client or anything of that old company).

Later he did not pay her wages for the last couple of week, so she first tried to email him about that but after failing to get any response she filed a complaint with DOL. As of now DOL has issued an order against her employer saying that “she is entitled to get that money”.

Now one of her friend from that old company is also leaving her job as she was not happy about that job and somehow the employer is thinking that my sister has something to do with her leaving that job. So he asked her about it and threatened that she is going to sue my sister and also not allowing her to leave. I am pretty sure that there is no ground for such lawsuit as my sister has nothing to do with it & did not do anything wrong. This just seems like a scaring tactic.

He was also asking my sister’s friend to return the money he spent on her H1B (I guess her employment letter said something about returning the H1B visa money if she leaves within a year of employment).

One funny thing is when my sister’s friend reminded him of “employment at will” doctrine mentioned in her offer letter and also by DOL; he said it applies only when company goes bankrupt J

Now my questions are:

1. Can she file a lawsuit against my sister, only because he thinks that she is the reason one of his employee is leaving her job?
   
2. Can he ask his employee(s) to sign a contract about returning the H1B money? I know that if the contract was about returning some fixed amount of money as a penalty then she is bound to it…but since the contract specifically mentions about the H1B visa cost…is it legal to ask for H1B cost if the employee leaves the company?
   

I know that as of now we cannot do anything from our part as we did not hear anything from that employer directly but I would appreciate if anybody giving me an insight into this.

I gave the detail story just because I have heard/read many people going through situations like these. May be inputs to this will also help them

Thanks!

[wiweq]

This employer is a 'fraud'. Complain to DOL, ICE. You should contact to local FBI or Police station too to complain for threatening. Don't avoid doing these things as bad things need to be punished.

They have no reason to ask for H1b cost. Ask her friend to not taking their calls and do all conversations on email. Finally, get the print out of all emails and send to DOL. I did the same to fix my ex employer. Don't just call to DOL, file 'WH4'; it’s made to save H1b's rights. If employer found guilty they will banned for 1 year H1b and GC filing. It’s a weapon for H1b holders and they should use this.

[prashant_wit]

"Bad things need to be punished"...totally agree with that.... this kind of behavior needs to punished...