Refers to a contractual arrangement in which employees are required to repay an employer for training costs if they leave a job before completing a specified period of employment. TRAPs are often included in employment agreements, onboarding documents, or workforce training contracts.

TRAPS can help employers recover investments made in employee training and skill development. They can also, however, function as restrictive “stay-or-pay” contracts that may trap workers in unsafe or unsustainable employment situations through the threat of debt repayment obligations, or financially discourage workers from changing jobs. There are concerns raised about TRAPS especially when repayment amounts are high, when the training primarily benefits the employer rather than the employee, or when workers receive little transferable credential value from the training.

Examples of TRAP-related practices include:

• repayment clauses tied to employer-sponsored industry certification programs
• penalties for leaving before a defined service period
• required reimbursement for onboarding or internal training costs
• contractual restrictions tied to apprenticeships or workforce development programs

The growth of TRAPs has prompted discussion among policymakers, labor economists, workforce advocates, and legal scholars about workforce mobility, fair labor practices, credential portability, and the boundaries between training investment and worker coercion.