Legal or not if you break a bond and bugger off you are a marked man and the industry, being fairly small, will know all about it.
It is people accepting a course of training and leaving before giving a fair return of service that have caused bonds to be introduced in the first place.
The next step after bonding is being asked to pay for your type rating and line training as a condition of employment, also a 'restrictive practice' I would have thought but it happens, so I wouldn't be banking too much on a claim of restrictive practice to get me out of repaying a bond that I had agreed to in the first place and signed a contract to that effect.
Better to go into the office and discuss it, make an offer, offer instalments etc. I worked for a company that aggressively pursued bond breakers but gave some very good terms to a couple of guys who made settlement offers. Another chap with strong compassionate grounds was allowed to walk away for free, owing nearly four years of bond.
Remember, if you break a bond not only are you screwing it up for everyone else but you will probably find it will come back to bite you later in your working life, a career, as such, may not be possible.
Last edited by parabellum; 9th Feb 2010 at 09:57.