Hac Employment Contracts

[Fred Lewis]

Be very careful if you are asked to sign one of these. As written, they favour the Company with all the advantages and the Employee with very few. Attached is an amended version of the HAC contract for permanent employees. Hopefully this will give you some ideas.

 

It all depends on what each individual wants. If the contract as written does not suit, you must bargain, an activity at which few are really good. On the other hand, employers are often savvy businessmen with considerable bargaining experience. The danger of the wolf eating the sheep is great.

 

When you sign a contract you must keep your end of the deal. If you don't, you could be in for a whole heap of trouble.

 

Get proper legal advice from a lawyer, preferably one expert in employment law. If you can afford it, ask the lawyer to bargain for you.

HACEmployment.doc

[pilot5]

After having revised this draft document, only have one or maybe 3 things to say . 1. NEVER!!

 

2. I am totally surprised that HAC would write such a document so heavily swayed in the favour of the employer?

 

3. Gotta love that 1/12 pay out…oooooohhh thanks! Perhaps a clause should be added for payout to the pilot who has to deal with unreasonable of Arse_hole employers and subsequent lost opportunity due to being duped under the terms an "any reason clause"

 

HAC represents pilots? I think not!

 

P5

[Skidz]

I had one of those contracts presented to me last year and walked away. Cost me about $1000 in travel fees to get home and a week of my time. Most companies using these so-called contracts are of the second-rate chisel charter variety...

[helicopterjim]

Skip the contract and just set your price like any other business person. You don't hand the plumber a contract to sign before he works on your plumbing so why have a contract for flying?

[Skidz]

Here's how it works (or at least the way it did in my case):

 

The employer offers you a job. You negotiate terms over the phone and come to an agreement. The employer sends you a confirmation e-mail mentioning those terms, subject to a test flight, and in the fine print, they mention you will be required to sign a contract of employment that will confirm these terms and other company policies. They then send you an airline ticket and off you go for training.

 

Once you get to the company's base, they put you through their training syllabus. You do all of the exams, watch all of the boring videos and PowerPoint presentations you've seen a gazillion times, and finally, a week later, you go flying with the boss for the first time. This is the employment confirmation check ride. The ride goes well, the boss seems happy, and after the flight, he says "put the machine to bed and meet me in my office in 45 minutes for debrief".

 

You get to the office, and after a very summary debriefing, where you're told you're flying is good, and that the company is happy to offer you employment, they pull out their "HAC compliant" contract of employment. It mentions the terms you agreed to over the phone, but adds a whole lot of extremely restrictive clauses that basically handcuff you with the company indefinitely. With clauses pertaining to training (ground school and flights) and PPCs where you accept they withhold sufficient funds from your pay to reimburse themselves in full (at tariff) if you leave the company before they deem the season to be over (at their full discretion, of course).

 

In short, they basically were going to withhold the first $5000.00 I made with them until the very end of the season (whenever that would be). This in essence was a training bond (illegal in Canada) in disguise.

 

I was flabbergasted, to say the least. I asked if I could have the contract so I could fax it to my lawyer for review. I was told no copies of the contract would be leaving the office (even after I signed it). I was told I had five minutes to make up my mind or their offer would be retracted.

 

I said no thanks. They then asked me to leave the premises immediately. I had to hitchhike a ride back to town to take a nine-hour bus ride back to the nearest major airport...

 

The moral to my story is: Don't leave home until you get a copy of the actual contract they expect you to sign...

[Helilog56]

What a douchebag company.....

[Hazy]

Sounds like a company near The Pas, MB.

[Bif]

I understand the reasoning of why Vertical probably wouldn't allow it, but that sounds like a company who should be ousted on a public forum frequented by industry professionals so that others can avoid having to go through what you did, Skidz. Then perhaps said company might learn that they can't treat prospective employees that way and expect to be successful as a company.

 

Then again, maybe they don't give a rat's behind how they're perceived, I dunno.

That kind of stuff really irks me, and simultaneously makes me thankful to have worked for the companies that I have.

[Skidz]

If I wasn't a moderator on this site, I would have "outed" them last summer. But then, people have outed shady operators in the past and those topics seem to mysteriously disappear. Especially since I responded to an ad published in Vertical Magazine for that job...

 

BTW, when I got there, I found out they pretty much exclusively hire pilots from Oz and Nz on work permits (I guess no local guys are dumb enough to accept their conditions of employment). They needed a pilot in a hurry because one of their guys had to go home (and break his contract) due to a death in his family...

 

And Hazy, no comment...

[JK33]

Sorry Pilot55 I thought HAC was there to represent the helicopter industry not just pilots

You all may want to look at the HAC Board of Directors. Pretty much made up of either Owners, Lawyers or Company Upper Management. You really think their working for you and me? LOL!