The "Stay or Pay” Clause

There is an interesting story in the NY Times about the ”stay or pay” clause, used by companies to basically handcuff employees to that company.

The Times story doesn’t mention TV news, but this is a clause that has become more common in the TV news industry.

People at companies like Nexstar have found that if they want to leave the station before the end of their contract, even to retire, or take a job outside TV news,are being told they need to pay up.

In the Times story, they write, In the early 1970s, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit noted that companies providing “specialized training” to their employees could require reimbursement “if the employee should quit before the employer achieves any benefit.” But the court emphasized that the penalty should be closely tied to the cost of the training. “The employer may not require its ex-employee to make payments to it unrelated to the employer’s damage,” the judges wrote, “simply as a penalty to discourage or punish a job change.”

What’s interesting here is that this is exactly the reason TV stations have the stay or pay clause in the contract.

FTVLive has heard from MMJs making next to nothing, being told they need to pay a media company thousands of dollars to leave for a job outside of TV news.

If you are getting ready to sign a contract at a TV station, tried to get rid of the clause that makes you pay up if you decide to leave TV news or retire.

That’s my advice, and if a station doesn’t agree to it, find one that does.

Nobody should be stuck working in a job they don’t want to be in.