Chicago mom says company used contract to try to stop her from quitting

In a FOX 32 special report: contract caution.

A Chicago woman learns a hard lesson when she's held to "fine print" on job paperwork.    

Alicia Weideman says she didn't always see daughter Mila as often as she liked. 

“I felt like I missed a lot of time with her at just a precious age,” she said.

Weideman took a job at "First Peek Ultrasound" in Oak Park two years ago, working as an ultrasound technician. 

“One-year contract, part-time hours, and I thought that was perfect. My daughter was 2 years old,” she said.

But she says just a few months in, she was working overtime.

“Anywhere from 40, 50, 60 - even 70 hours a week. I would never see my 2-year-old daughter,” she said.

She decided to quit. But Weideman says First Peek told her she'd have to pay nearly $5,000 back for "training costs."

“I was devastated, I was scared, I was depressed, I couldn't believe this was happening to me,” she said.

Weideman decided to fight back and took the case to court.

“If you know that when you quit, you have to pay back your wages, you're really dis-incentivized strongly to quit. It's almost as if you can't quit,” said attorney Michael Held.

Held says Weideman won the case because of the type of contract she signed. 

“It's what we call in contracts- an illusory contract. It's a one-sided contract. It requires one party to perform, it does not require the other party to perform,” held said.

Held says anyone who’s supposed to sign a contract should read it fully before signing and if something doesn't sound right, speak up. 

“You have the power to amend it, that's called an offer,” Held said.

And Weideman echoes his words. 

“Be careful what you're signing,” she said.

First Peek appealed the judge's decision. The company's owner tells FOX 32 it was “very just with Miss Weideman - and tried to work with her every step of the way, but she never responded."