<prompt> Human: Can anyone with experience with FSAs give me some guidance on what to do here? I dont think Im liable for this amount but if Im wrong, then I wanna be sure.As I understood it, the way FSAs work is that theres risk for parties on both sides. If you leave your job or get fired before youve used up the balance of your contributions, youre screwed and the company gets to keep them. But conversely, if you use the value of your full election before youve actually contributed that amount and then leaveget fired, the employer has to eat the difference.I took a new job this month, and during my outprocessing with my previous employer, they said that Id need to pay them back for the something like 2200 of the entire 2600 amount. They were nice about the situation and talked about me being able to set up some recurring payments for it throughout the rest of the year, to which I sort of demurred and said Yeah, we can figure that out...Ive googled my local areas laws on how FSAs are supposed to work, and I cant find a silver bullet piece of info. They basically say Yeah companies arent supposed to try to do that, but some do anyway, which isnt too helpful. Im hoping to find some kind of language I can send in an email where I can say, Actually you guys arent entitled to do this, sorry but its the law. And not in a way where Im trying to be combative, but just where I am transmitting information and have to be the bearer of bad news that they cant do it.It also sucks because I have a really good relationship with my former company and dont want to burn bridges there, and Im worried this will do so. But I do think they are wrong, and dont think I should have to repay the amount, given how FSAs are supposed to function.Edit: To those who take issue with the idea that I dont want to pay the remaining amount, let me attempt to clarify what I mean. I have no issue with paying back the portion I did not contribute yet, if thats the legal requirement and assuming FSAs are structured the way I thought they were, where there is risk to the employer as well as the employee. My main concern was whether my employer was trying to do something that theyre legally barred from doing based on how FSAs function, and Im fine with paying if I was incorrect about that.That is the main question Im still trying to get to the heart of, whether both parties are at risk of losing some money in the case of early termination, and are on a level playing field in the regard.Even if thats not true, I will still pay it back if required, but I think that I might consider avoiding FSAs in the future, as they would seem terribly advantageous for employers and biased against employees in that case.  <response>: FSAs follow the same laws as a Health Plan when in a cafeteria plan, which allows it the tax-qualified status. Spending the 2,600 on something like LASIK is similar to using your health insurance to have knee surgery in January. They cant ask you to pay anything back because you were a high utilizer.The downside risk for employers is this situation of an employee leaving after using FSA money. The flip-side is employees that dont use up all their FSA money by the end of the year. An employer has to decide the costs and benefits of offering such a plan. This is known as the Uniform Coverage Rule and applies to Section 125 of the law Cafeteria Plans. You probably wont find a better source than the one already cited here.As a note, if you had money in an FSA that you hadnt used yet, you could actually make COBRA payments in your usual amount to have access to those funds for the rest of the year. Along with being good information, this also further shows the FSAs place as a health plan and not simply a savings account. It is also why you cant change the amount of your election mid-year without a qualifying event, whereas 401k changes can be made at any time if allowed by the plan.Edit: 