Employee right to privacy

[MCosgrove]

Hi! I'm glad to have the opportunity to post in this forum.

From around June 2003 to January 2005 my employer financed my Masters degree through an agreement that I would continue working there for 10 years after my graduation. Every year they were to forgive 10% of the loan.

In October of 2005, I had the first closing on a construction-perm loan on a house we were building. Everything, went fine and we entered into the construction phase.

In January of 2006, I received a letter from my employer (large private college) informing me that they would not be renewing my contract. My last day would be 5/26/2006.

Because the college had been putting pressure on me to obtain a loan through a another local bank to pay off my educational loan, I asked the bank official for my constuction-perm loan what I would need to close on our construction perm loan. He said I would need my 5/1/2006 paystub and our Picture ID's. He didn't need any employment verification.

On May 17, 2006, they informed me that my Final 6/1/2006 paycheck would be in jeopardy if I didn't pay them in full for the educational loan. Because I already had my May 1st paycheck and obviously I had my picture ID, I told them If I would not be paid on June 1st, I needed to go some place where I could receive a paycheck. So I did. I registered with a local real estate company and have not made any money since.

On May 18, 2006, they sent a letter "out of courtesy" to the bank with my SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER on it informing them that I had quit my job. As a result we were not able to close on our loan. Basically, they maliciously sent that letter to cause me damage.

[almost done] Just recently, I tried to apply for unemployment. And they withheld information from the unemployment people. They told them that I left before my contract was up, but didn't tell them that they had released me from my contract for no reason. They also included other information about me working at the real estate company that the unemployment people did not ask for.

Their primary objective under all this was to damage my reputation. Is there anything that I can possibly pursue here. I have copies of the letter they sent to the bank with my social security number on it. I also have a copy of the file they sent to the unemployment place where they lied and excluded information.

Is there anything I can do. Can anyone direct me to another site that has layman versions of the law or if I need to just "grin and bear it". Thanks . . . Sorry so long! It is however alot shorter than some of the legal code I've been pouring over.

[charlesa6]

Mcosgrove, welcome to the suijuris forum.

[MCosgrove]

Originally Posted by charlesa6

Mcosgrove, welcome to the suijuris forum.

Thank-you! Are people on this forum generally lawyers or people in the legal profession? I like your quote "Silent and listen are spelled with the same letters" That's good!

I was able to find the following information regarding the SS Number:

Title 42 U.S. Code, section 408(a)(8) states:
"[Whoever] discloses, uses, or compels the disclosure of the social security number of any person in violation of the laws of the United States; shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined under title 18 or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both."

The Privacy Act The privacy Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-579) Section 7 states that:
''(a)(1) It shall be unlawful for any Federal, State or local government agency to deny to any individual any right, benefit, or privilege provided by law because of such individual's refusal to disclose his social security account number.
''(2) the (The) provisions of paragraph (1) of this subsection shallnot apply with respect to -
''(A) any disclosure which is required by Federal statute, or ''(B) the disclosure of a social security number to any Federal, State, or local agency maintaining a system of records in existence and operating before January 1, 1975, if such disclosure was required under statute or regulation adopted prior to such date to verify the identity of an individual.
''(b) Any Federal, State, or local government agency which requests an individual to disclose his social security account number shall inform that individual whether that disclosure is mandatory or voluntary, by what statutory or other authority such number is solicited, and what uses will be made of it.'' END


http://famguardian.org/Subjects/Taxe... 0Institutions)

[macerico]

I'm not a lawyer, but I did obtain a proper legal education.

As much as I'm not for encouraging someone to go to a sheister and hand over a bunch of FRNs, this might be an exception.

Your (former) employer paid for your education on the agreement that YOU would remain in their employ for 10 years after graduation. In exchange, they would forgive 10% of your debt to them each year.

You have the following issues.

1. Who "breached" this agreement? Based on your side of the story, you did not leave their employment, they chose to terminate you. So, you've not done anything to breach the agreement. They should not be entitled to repayment based on the claim of your breach of contract. If they are claiming so, they may be estopped from such a claim since they ended the relationship, not you.

2. Is there a "contract" for this debt? Contracts that cannot be satisfied within 1 year are requred to be in writing. If you never signed a promisory note, they are out of luck. There should be no "unjust enrichment" since they got what they bargained for and decided they did not want the benefit any longer (your continued employment).

If I understand your facts correctly, you work for a college/university that gave you a free education IF you agreed to stay on 10 more years. It sounds like you didn't sign anything (hence why they are eager for you to get a loan from someone else to pay them what they feel you owe them), and that means they should get nothing.

You need to talk to someone who knows the laws of your state regarding contracts, lending, and the like, and it would help to post up if you signed a contract regarding your agreement to repay any alleged debt to the university and what the terms are. From what you've given, you only had an obligation to stay for 10 years and could be compelled to repay the debt if you didn't do that. In this case, they are choosing to discharge you, and that is their forfeiture of the benefit they paid for. I'd think they have not right to withhold salary owed to you or demand you repay any alleged "debt" since they are the ones terminating the benefit you owed them, not you walking out on them.

Sign nothing. Do not try to find replacement funding for this alleged "debt" until you've talked to a trained and competent person in this matter. I'm suspecting that they are owed nothing and know it to be so, but most people holding illicit claims for "debt" try to get a person to borrow off of someone else so the burden becomes another person's problem.


BTW, since they are terminating you, what is the reason for doing so? I think they owe you that since you have an employment contract (of sorts) where you are to work for them 10 years to "repay" the investment of your master's degree.