Employer ended my wife’s contract for not being “dedicated” enough after moving across the country for the role

Before I get into what happened today a little bit of backstory on my wife. She has been an amazing employee everywhere she has worked and won multiple employee of the month awards, mvp awards, and been successful as an executive. She gives every job her all.

After a few years of taking off work due to layoffs and moving during COVID my wife started applying for work and eventually landed a job with a European company in her industry that also operates in the United States.

While she was not eligible to work full time for them in the state we resided, they were so excited to have her that they drew up a contract that would convert to full time once we reached a state on the east coast.

This was a tough decision because where we had been living was idyllic. I’m talking a lake nearby we could watch sunsets on, good cost of living, great neighbors etc.

This opportunity seemed great not only because it’s a job in this economy but her boss joked that she was working too hard and they had to work to de Americanize her. No need to work after hours, take on other people’s work, and generally not to kill herself for the effort.

We take our kids, move across the country and over the course of two weeks staying in an Airbnb finally find a new home. The kids are excited, planning their rooms, talking about the park nearby and being closer to things.

The day after we sign the lease and start getting ready to move in her boss gets into a call and tell her they are not going to honor the contract. They say she is not dedicated enough to the mission.

Here is where things get even crazier. During the nearly three months my wife has worked as a contractor they have not paid her. They said that their contracts are usually on a 60 day invoice but my wife drafted them for 30 and even then they would have missed their own due dates. They promise to pay but given they are breaching an employment contract I don’t put much stock in it.

For more context this is a known European company. They have other Americans working for them across the east coast as well. This job would have been our one source of income after I was laid off and we have some savings but aren’t wealthy.

Now we are having to scramble to stay with family, breach a lease and pay the costs, and tell our kids it’s going to be a while till we can get our own place. That was the worst part and I’ll never forgive the people who did this or the labor laws that make things like this possible.

TLDR; moved across the country for a job, missed the signs, and now have to move in with family and start over.