It depends on what your employment agreement says. If you have an
actual written employment agreement, you need to read it or have a
lawyer read it and see if it contains a termination provision that
says you can terminate if your employer fails to obey the law/pay
taxes/act ethically/something like that. Absent a specific provision
that gives the employee the right to terminate for such a breach, it
is unlikely that the fact an employer fails to pay corporate income
taxes, standing alone, would give the employee the right to
unilaterally terminate the contract.
An exception might be if the employee was suffering exposure to
personal liability if he/she continues under the employment contract
knowing the employer is breaking the law. If the employee was aware
of tax evasion by the employer AND potentially participating in it as
an accountant or bookkeeper AND failed to report it to the IRS AND
continued in the employment, THEN the employee could be potentially be
held liable as a co-conspirator. If the employee knows about the bad
acts and is being made to participate in them, the employee could
likely avoid the employment contract since to continue means the
employee suffers exposure to criminal liability. Can't use a contract
to force someone to be a criminal. |
