Please help me in replying to a Job offer

[Jayawant Sharma]

Hello all,
I am from India and have an offer from a firm in NJ,USA. The company is willing to pay me a handsome salary. It also promised me that it will provide me accomodation in USA , and transportion to the client site. It asked me for bond , but i refused to sign one. But the person (recruiter) agreed.
I am scared if its a body-shopping firm or a fly by night company. Any one willing to share their thougts are welcome.

[bill bozeman]

Depends on what you want. If you want to come to US (however, I am not sure if I would want to go to Jersey ) then I would take it. Even if it doesn't pan out, there are plenty of other jobs in the NorthEast that you could get pretty quickly. It is a pretty hot market over here. So if you wanted to move, then you are not risking much, since you can find something else with relative ease.

[Anonymous]

I don't know about the laws in India but in the US it would be highly unusual to require a "bond" of any sort for an IT job. Under what conditions does the bond have to be paid? If you decide you hate the job and want to go home? Bonds are usually only required in the US for people transporting money or other valuables or who are likely to be sued. A bond is a guarantee some amount of money will be paid to someone when necessary.
Some parts of New Jersey have a reputation for being pretty grim
(although perhaps compared to parts of India not so). It would also be unusual for any company in the US to provide accomodations for any sort or transportation

[Jayawant Sharma]

Hi All,
Thanx for all your comments. By the way , the bond agreement is that if i leave the company within a year i need to pay them 8000$. Normally here in india companies do not pursue the case ,but i do not know how it is in USA.
Also , can any one tell me how can i get to know the company's profile , other than the official website.
Thanx ,

[Anonymous]

EDS used to require such agreements in the US although I don't know if they still do. They required you pay them for your "training" if you started working for them but decided you hated Ross Perot (the guy who ran the place). And they were serious about collecting the money. They sued if you didn't pay up.
If you were in the US you could contact the Better Business Bureau and see if other people have complaints about dealing with this company. In some states the BBBs have web sites, although I don't know about NJ.

[Julie McCarthy]

Jayawant - sounds like everyone's already agreed that you don't have to sign the bond; it seems your primary concern is whether or not this company is reputable.
You got good advice from Mr. "Fiktishus", about checking with the BBB. If you had a chance to interview with several people within the company, perhaps you have the basis for a personal-enough relationship to tactfully ask a few questions.
If it IS a body shop, I deal with them all the time and understand your trepidation. But I also talk to plenty of programmers who started off in such an environment, but found other employment once they came to the USA. It's such a personal decision that I loathe to advise you, except to say I hope you do your homework and that it pays off.

[Jayawant Sharma]

Thanx oliver and Julie for your comments. I will definitely try to get some help from BBB.
Mean While , i would like to know if the consulting firms take legal processings against u , if u say fail to honour the bond.
(ps. I forgot to mention that i am a Green card holder of USA . But i have stayed most of the time in India pursueing my education here .I have not worked in IT jobs in USA . Thats why all this queries. )

[Anonymous]

The US is a litginous society. There are more lawyers per capita than any other country (surprisingly India is number 2 in world). Eight thousand is not a lot of money but if they can stick you with lawyers fees and court cost on top of that (and they were upset enough) you could get sued.

[Julie McCarthy]

Originally posted by Jayawant Sharma:
[B](ps. I forgot to mention that i am a Green card holder of USA.) /B]

I don't know the answer to your question, but am surprised that a 'green' card holder is looking for H-1B sponsorship. In my experience it's been the other way around. In that case, do you really need to consider working for a place that could have an 8K bond hanging over your head?

[Jayawant Sharma]

Hello Julie,
I am not looking for H1-B sponsporship. I am having a green card and the company is only sponsporing for my air travel. The HR person was asking for a commitment from me for a period of 1 year in the form of an agreement.
Well , the point that i may have to pay 8k has been mentioned in the offer letter as one single paragraph. That has been mentioned for expenses like visa processing etc, which is not true in my case though. Also there is no mention of legal proceedings or court jurisdiction if i fail to honour the same.
Let me know if you or Oliver have any thing to say about this.
I am not aware of how legal matters are in USA, but here in India, usually the companies do not initiate acton if an employee fails to honour the agreement. The fact that justice in legal issues takes a long time in Indian courts is one of the reasons for it. I do not know if US companies will ever really goto the law court in case an employee dishonours an agreement.
I felt that the company's pay is good and a there seems to career growth in the company, thats why i have decided to take up the offer . The bond issue still haunts my mind though.
regards,
jayawant

[Julie McCarthy]

Oh, I see. Well I wonder where the 8K figure comes from? Sounds pretty arbitrary. At any rate, I've never personally known of a company going after an employee for any kind of refund, but then I've also never heard of one including a bond clause in an offer letter like yours. Whether or not they come after you is probably an internal decision the company would make, I don't think there's one answer that applies to all situations.
I hope it turns out well for you though. Please let us know what you decide.

[John Coxey]

Jayawant Sharma
Forget about the bond thing. Under no circumstances should
you have to pay an $8K bond to work in the USA. This sounds
like a total scam.
If they want you, and if they are a legitimate firm, they will
handle all the fees (if there really are any).
John Coxey
([e-mail])

[John Coxey]

Saw note regarding Ross Perot's old company - EDS. I spent 2
years working for these folks. Decent company, but overly
bureaucratic.
It's true that they used to make you sign documents stating that you had to work 1 year after a training class - else you would have to pay them back.
Also, they made you sign a statement saying you would not leave
company and work for a competitor within 50 miles of your base
office - within your 1st year after leaving the company.
Both of these are scare tatic agreements. Yes, you may have
to sign and agree to them as part of your employment signup
proceedure - but I have yet to see them enforced. Personally,
I doubt the non-competitive agreement (paragraph #2 above)
is legally enforcable.
Hope this helps,
John Coxey
([e-mail])
Also

[Anonymous]

Sounds like, now, there really isn't a bond, per se, but a condition in your offer contract saying you might have to pay for visa processing if you leave in less than a year. But there is no visa processing in your case and you have signed no "bond agreement".
Ok, to me that sounds like "boiler plate": an irrelvant (to you) paragraph that is put into every offer letter.
If you are really worried, find an American lawyer in India (probably are a few around), pay him a $100 bucks and have him look at the letter. Failing that, when you get to the US, first thing, find a lawyer and do the same thing. If they do sue you some time in the future, you can always hire your own lawyer to defend yourself. A good one could probably get you off (good ones are expensive however).

[Jayawant Sharma]

Test

[Jayawant Sharma]

Hi All,
Thanx for your valuable comments. I landed here in USA on Sunday and i have decided to go ahead with the above offer. I do not think (after considering all your inputs ), that bond can be enforced in USA. May be it is just to keep a scare within you.
Right now i am waiting for a client for whom i can work.
Thanx to all.
Jayawant

[swapneel kale]

Hello,
I am working as programmer in a certain company in India.
I have signed an 18 months bond with company breaking which I should pay to company 60K Indian Rs. The company is not incrementing the salary & increasing the work load day by day.
If you can help me in this context I will be very grateful to U
Please reply at [e-mail]

[Mark Herschberg]

Swapneel, I appreciate that you took the time to first search the forum before posting a question, to see if it had been asked before. In this particular case, the topic is over 1 year old. Please consider creating a new thread for your question.
--Mark