Training Contract - Legal?

misha-k

Hi all,

I'm looking advice on a contract that my employer got me to sign regarding training. So I've worked for the company for 3 years. I was given the opportunity to get enrolled into a professional qualification course that the company had set up for me and several other employees. I was accepted and started the course approximately last May.

About a month into doing the course, they hand me a contract that they told me to sign, one they forgot to give to us all before starting the course. It stated that if I was to leave the company within 2 years of obtaining my qualification, I'd have to pay a percentage the course fee that decreases after 1 year. This contract did not state the cost of the course, however I felt obligated to sign it.

Fast forward to now - I've completed my course and am attending 2 interviews for similar roles that offer more pay and are closer to home. I'm told by word of mouth that the course costs £2,500. Looking up the institute's website, I discover that's true. If I'd known the course would cost that much for a year, I'd have never taken up the course!

Is the contract they got me to sign legally binding? Have I to pay them back?

TadleyBaggie

misha-k wrote: »

Is the contract they got me to sign legally binding? Have I to pay them back?

The answer to both questions is, almost certainly.

DCFC79

How much more pay is it ?

Go to the interviews and do your best and see what happens, if you get 1 offers could you get your employer to match the offered pay ?

Oh and yes I reckon you would have to pay whats owed.

Voyager2002

Go the interviews and "play a blinder". Ask the new employer to pay the cost of the training.

Masomnia

As above some employers might pay the cost if you're good...

Otherwise it's pretty certain you'll have to pay it back, and really, why shouldn't you? Otherwise you'd have had the benefit of £2,500 of free training and as soon as it's over gone somewhere else for better pay! Your employer has spent that cash making you more employable, they have to protect themselves somehow.

Undervalued

misha-k wrote: »

Is the contract they got me to sign legally binding? Have I to pay them back?

If it has been properly drafted then yes it is likely to be binding.

That said, regardless of the contract, the amount they seek to reclaim must be reasonable and proportionate. A court would not enforce more. However, they are likely to deduct the amount from your final salary leaving you to fight to reclaim anything you believe to be excessive.

Savvy_Sue

Undervalued wrote: »

If it has been properly drafted then yes it is likely to be binding.

Although I thought that this kind of thing had to be signed BEFORE starting the course. Having said that, are you up for a fight OP?

I'd agree that talking to your new employers and asking for something towards the cost of your training would be reasonable, especially if they would have had to pay you to do it if you hadn't already done it.

getmore4less

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/II/crossheading/deductions-by-employer

13.5 &13.6

tea_lover

Why did you sign it without knowing the cost??

That said.... yes, I think legally (and morally) you would have to repay the cost if you leave within the stated time.

martinsurrey

getmore4less wrote: »

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/II/crossheading/deductions-by-employer

13.5 &13.6

OP signed the contract a month into a long course (a year or longer?).

The OP continuing with the course would be an event after the signing for the clauses you quoted, so at best you would be looking at a 1/12 reduction in the cost to be repaid.

sangie595

On a strictly technical basis, I think getmore4less is correct. But I suspect that it may be a long drawn out and expensive battle that the OP may not emerge from unscathed - financially and reputationally. After all, when the new employer finds out how they act about training, how much investment is the new employer going to be willing to invest. And find out they will. It's the same field of work - even if it isn't in the reference, it'll get mentioned. Trust that. And I think a court may just consider the proposition put forward by martinsurrey - the OP continued with the course after knowing that they had to repay the fees. It's not an argument I would happily take to court and expect to win - that the agreement wasn't signed until after the start, but I continued on the course even knowing the conditions. And I doubt very much that they will consider the OP'S argument that it's closer to home, pays more, and they didn't know the cost of the course in any way valid. I'm sure lots of people would like to have their employer pay a substantial amount of money so that they can go off and find a better job. But that doesn't make it right. Ethernet it is "legal" or not is a different question, but it's a murky one at best - like I said, not one I'd like to bet on, but I suspect that one way or another the OP will find that there's a cost.