Leaving job, repaying training fees

invisibleyousee

Hi, I hope somebody can offer me some advice and help here.

I currently work for a company, and have handed in my notice after finding a new job.

My current job was based in my home town around 3 miles from my home in Trowbridge, and I was attending university one day a week with my employer paying my annual fees. I completed a 2 year college course to which they benefited greatly. I then started on a degree course, and I have just finished my first year.

I signed a learning agreement for these fees last Spring (Spring 2010). However, in October/November 2010, the company then put us all under consultation for redundancy, the process was long and drawn out and didn't conclude until the Spring of 2011. We were then told we may be moving to the Bristol office, which then eventually happened in May 2011.

I now have a sizable commute and simply cannot aford the monthly travel costs - the company has agreed to fund it for 1 year, but after that year that's it.

I earn 14k pre-tax, and the increase in petrol costs amount to nearly 3 months take home wages. With the mortage and everything, I simply don't have that much money spare to be able to afford to get to Bristol.

I have therefore been looking for a new job, and have been successful and found one. I handed in my notice, but now my currrent employer is saying that they will be reclaiming tuition fees - this years fees were £1350, and the 2 years before that were just less than £1000 per year...from what I understand they will take this from my final salary this month, leaving me with no money what-so-ever.

If I were still working in the Trowbridge office (as I was when I signed the learning agreement) then I wouldn't be in the position where I needed to find a new job. I'm leaving as a direct result of their change to office location. I purposefully didn't apply for any continued funding for this September because I knew that it was unlikely I would be able to guarantee working here after May 2012 without a signficant difference in salary, which I knew wasn't going to happen!

Is there anybody who can help here?

Can they simply take me entire salary, leaving me with no money? What's more, can they do this without giving me any notice of their intention do so, or - considering my last day is Wednesday - giving me less than 48 hours notice? I will have to somehow try and arrange a loan to be able to cover myself for next month, but I can't do any of this without knowing what they will be taking...

The agreement simply says that the company "may" reclaim a proportion of the fees. It doesn't say they absolutely will. It appears that this company are planning on reclaiming them, but I've spoken to my manager and his manager and still have no answers.

What is my legal position? Help, please!

Thank you for any advice, it would be very much appreciated and sorry if this an ultra long post!

saintjammyswine

The basics are, I'm afraid that yes, they can reclaim these fees from your final salary although notice has already been given in the form of your agreement. With regards to you circumstances, I am not sure, probably SarEl will give better advice.

invisibleyousee

Thank you.

Like I said, if I were in Trowbridge and they hadn't changed my working office I would understand them doing it, but it's not as straight forward as that...

Is SarEl another member of the forum?

saintjammyswine

Yes, An employment legal eagle ( I use that term as not sure of SarEl's career status) and seems to be the oracle on all things legal here. I would trust her(I think) advice and opinion more than mine (Sorry me)!

invisibleyousee

Ah okay, I hope that SarEl is able to offer some help/advice...!

Thank you :-)

Mistral001

Can you suggest paying it back in installments, say by giving them six post-dated cheques.

They seem to have been quite generous with paying travelling costs for a year, so I do not think you should have many complaints there.

Your present employer is envoking the terms of the agreement to the letter (i.e. not "may reclaim" but "are") which suggests that they are a little annoyed with loosing you. However, they might be more annoyed with the firm you have got the new job with than they are with you as in some professions it is not normally "done" to take employees away from employers with training agreements. Have you told the new firm that you are in a training agreement?

Emmzi

is there an option to stay with current employer and them to help fund relocation?

invisibleyousee

The funding for 1 year was done for all staff affected since it is a signficant change...yes, at least we have that, but as I said before on a 14k salary I simply don't have £2.5 - £3k "spare" a year to be able to fund the travel costs next year - I would literally get into debt to try and do my job.

At the moment they still won't even tell me what sum they are planning to reclaim...

SarEl

I am afraid that the advice already given is relatively accurate. You have signed a training agreement and the terms of that agreement are that you must repay the money if you leave. Possession being 9/10th's of the law, and the money being an agreed debt to the employer, they are lawfully permitted to deduct from salary.

There should be, within the agreement or the policy, some form of time-limitation and/or reducing percentage of pay back over time. This is a point of negotiation if there isn't - it will not make the agreement unenforceable, but it may give cause to some risk of a claim of unlawful deductions. But this is a very "obscure" ground - it doesn't change the fact that there is a debt or the fact that they do have the right to reclaim it or deduct it - at best, and some point in the future, it may mean that you may owe a fraction less money if a tribunal felt that the terms were unfair. It's dubious solace.

I am afraid that the circumstances of why you have to leave and go to another job are not in any form legally relevant. Even had you actually been made redundant the agreement would still have been enforceable - many employers wouldn't in those circumstances, but believe me, many would!

The best hope for some form of resolution here is negotiation - both around what you owe and how it is paid back - preferably over a period of time. But the employer does not have to agree to this.

SarEl

saintjammyswine wrote: »

Yes, An employment legal eagle ( I use that term as not sure of SarEl's career status) and seems to be the oracle on all things legal here. I would trust her(I think) advice and opinion more than mine (Sorry me)!

She is a barrister currently on "sabbatical" - loosely translated as she thinks she has earned enough money (and knows you can't take it with you so what the hell!) and should enjoy life, but isn't sure that this early retirement thing so since she owns the company (so to speak) she is testing the water to see if she gets bored. Will that suffice as a status report?:)

thegirlintheattic

Any way to negotiate for a fixed grant or loan to cover relocation fees from the company?

Big up the amount of money and time they have already invested in you etc.