Is this legally binding???

J123321

Hi All,

I signed a study agreement for my employer to pay for study. Just wondering am I legally bound under the terms? i.e. can they enforce them on me.

basic outline is

partial completion of course - 100% of fees repaid
0-12 from completion - 100% of fees paid
12-24 from completion - 50% of fees paid

contract states reviewed periodically which it is not & also the amount is vat inclusive that the company has reclaimed.

Cheers

TELLIT01

If you've signed an agreement I suspect it can be enforced unless any of the terms are considered to be unreasonable by a court.

DomRavioli

Yes, they are legally enforceable. You signed a contract, therefore they can enforce the terms of the contract as per.

Reviewed periodically can mean when there is a change from either contracted party, or at interim levels set by your employer (amongst many other terms, these are not exclusive). Did you ask when you signed the contract what this would be, the frequency etc? Have you asked now what it would be/frequency of review? You cannot simply state that something hasn't been reviewed when it does not state a definitive timescale, just because you do not agree with it.

J123321

I only signed these with the expectations that I would be paid the market average as and when I progressed through my qualification.

Now I am stuck being underpaid considerably until the end the agreement?

pinkshoes

J123321 wrote: »

I only signed these with the expectations that I would be paid the market average as and when I progressed through my qualification.

Now I am stuck being underpaid considerably until the end the agreement?

Does your contract say that once you have completed the qualification your salary would increase? If not, then the original agreement still stands and it is not unfair.

I had the same term in an engineering job, but the company I worked for made it clear that 6 months after I had finished training my salary would increase.

DomRavioli

J123321 wrote: »

I only signed these with the expectations that I would be paid the market average as and when I progressed through my qualification.

Now I am stuck being underpaid considerably until the end the agreement?

As expressed by the poster above, unless it is in writing then you don't have a leg to stand on.

If you were in any doubt as to your wages post-completion of any training/courses/qualifications, you should have done this before you signed the contract.

somethingcorporate

I've never seen an employer say they pay "market average" as a salary. It's a pretty meaningless term. Mean, mode, median - local, national, global, gender/age specific? sorry, the term is nebulus and largely meaningless.

If you were concerned about the salary you should have brought it up prior to signing.

Marktheshark

Always puzzle me these contracts, its 100% tax deductible.

asajj

Number of topics on the forums about the same and general advise, don't sign anything next time if you are unsure.
Companies support employees for their trainings for number of reasons - the first one to be for them to improve and then give back to the company.
Also not sure what you mean about market average.

It is very common if you go to a company externally, you are likely to get a better increase than moving internally.

If an employee is undertaking a professional qualification which is required for their job role, it is tax deductible for the employer and will not be a benefit for the employee.

bluenoseam

If you were banking on the pay becoming linked with your new knowledge gained would it not have been prudent to have ensured that such was written into the agreement too?

The conditions for what it's worth aren't actually all that draconian, paying them back for your qualification is fair & justifiable, if anything the agreement is fairly tame.

sangie595

J123321 wrote: »

Now I am stuck being underpaid considerably until the end the agreement?

On the other hand you could have been stuck with no qualification, couldn't you? Or with the cost of the training yourself? The employer wasn't under any obligation to pay for your training, so effectively you have had extra income that you couldn't have otherwise depended upon.