Paying for training costs if I resign - Vague contract wording

TBagpuss · 13 April 2017 at 11:50AM

Undervalued wrote: »

A policy alone is not sufficient for this purpose. Unusually the law is quite specific and requires and actual agreement. This can form part of the contract of employment, provided that the employee has actually signed it. For virtually all other purposes just turning up, working and getting paid is sufficient to establish a contract even if it is never signed. However, for this purpose it is unlikely to be sufficient.

That said, as mentioned earlier, the problem is that the employer will most likely make the deduction leaving the OP to battle to get it back if they feel they have a case. In doing so they can kiss goodbye to any decent reference!

Yes, except that in this case the contract of employment has been signed and does expressly refer to training costs , so the additional information would be about how the wording of the contract was interpreted. I personally think that the employer would struggle as the signed agreement doesn't refer to a specific training course or cost, but I think OP would be well advised to check any other material now, so they have the fullest information about what the employer says or is likely to say.

ScorpiondeRooftrouser · 13 April 2017 at 12:56PM

TBagpuss wrote: »

Yes, except that in this case the contract of employment has been signed and does expressly refer to training costs , so the additional information would be about how the wording of the contract was interpreted. I personally think that the employer would struggle as the signed agreement doesn't refer to a specific training course or cost, but I think OP would be well advised to check any other material now, so they have the fullest information about what the employer says or is likely to say.

The contract (what we have seen of it) says they are entitled to reclaim training costs "which you owe us". That in no way does anything to establish what training costs the employee might or might not owe them. In my unlearned opinion they would need a separate piece of evidence showing that the training costs are owed. All that clause does is give them the right to deduct anything owed from final salary instead of sending an invoice for it - it's irrelevant to the matter of whether training costs are repayable but relevant only to the method of repayment.

xapprenticex · 13 April 2017 at 7:35PM

yeah doing training then jumping ship usually results in deductions, tbh if a company doesnt do that then the managers are stupid. I'd happily jon a company for them to fund £12k course then I can leave as soon as i have my certificate...

My company requires you to remain a few years, each year you pay back a little less, after 3 years you are free to leave with no penalty.

It cant be that bad if they are putting you on a course

steampowered · 13 April 2017 at 8:21PM

The clause you posted says the employer may deduct "any amounts which you owe us from time to time", and then gives several possible examples.

It doesn't say anything about what you owe the employer or anything about repayment of training costs.

Repayment of training costs would only be an "amount owed" to the employer, if you had agreed to repay it.

burnoutbabe · 14 April 2017 at 1:36PM

we get people to agree (via email) that they are doing Training course x, the cost is £x + VAT and they will repay us if they resign within 12 months of ending the course, on a monthly sliding scale. They email back to say yes, agreed. That way its clear exactly what the costs are and repayment details.

Vectis · 14 April 2017 at 2:33PM

Hmm, I wonder how many of us would feel good about leaving the company they worked for just after completing an expensive training course? Yes, you could argue that, legally, with a only vague agreement in place, you could get away with it, but would you want to? And what sort of reference would you expect?

Let's be honest, the company can't be all that bad if they've invested heavily in you. Personally, I think it would be only fair to give something back (either the expertise you've learnt on the course i.e. spend another year or two with the company, or a repayment of some of the cost).

jobbingmusician · 14 April 2017 at 2:50PM

Vectis wrote: »

Hmm, I wonder how many of us would feel good about leaving the company they worked for just after completing an expensive training course? Yes, you could argue that, legally, with a only vague agreement in place, you could get away with it, but would you want to? And what sort of reference would you expect?

Let's be honest, the company can't be all that bad if they've invested heavily in you. Personally, I think it would be only fair to give something back (either the expertise you've learnt on the course i.e. spend another year or two with the company, or a repayment of some of the cost).

Conversely, there are employers out there who would happily claim that they had provided 'training' to an employee. The employee might well agree that this was not the case - we have all heard of employers where employees are left without any instruction or guidance and just expected to 'get on with it'. My interpretation of what I have read is that the law has established that there has to be a specific written agreement for repayment to be in place for a specific course, for the employer to be able to claim anything back.

Paying for training costs if I resign - Vague contract wording

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