Recruitment Fee repayment

Marcon

mariefab wrote: »

I completely agree that it's ridiculous. Impossible even.
However, in these circumstances, it is what is required in order for the recovery of the costs to be lawful.

No; what is required for the recovery to be lawful is inclusion in the contract and that the amount to be recovered can legitimately be classed as 'liquidated damages' (which given the amount it can), rather than a 'penalty' clause (which would be unenforceable).

The fact that OP signed up and continued working means they accepted the clause - the time for protest would have been when they saw the contract.

mariefab

See 13(6) and 14(4) below.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/II

Brynsam

mariefab wrote: »

See 13(6) and 14(4) below.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1996/18/part/II

13(6) - the 'conduct of the worker' is the resignation
14(4) - applies to payments made to 3rd parties

getmore4less

marliepanda wrote: »

Pretty much everything they post is guesswork, but they always back it up with their own experiences. They seem to have experiences of every single workplace event/situation ever...

seriously you get that from the random stream of words that make very little sense most of the time?

mariefab

Sorry, I should have written 15(4)

13(6) For the purposes of this section an agreement or consent signified by a worker does not operate to authorise the making of a deduction on account of any conduct of the worker, or any other event occurring, before the agreement or consent was signified.

15(4) For the purposes of this section an agreement or consent signified by a worker does not operate to authorise the receipt of a payment on account of any conduct of the worker, or any other event occurring, before the agreement or consent was signified.

The relevant part here is "any other event occurring" which in this case would be the recruitment costs.

TELLIT01

marliepanda wrote: »

Pretty much everything they post is guesswork, but they always back it up with their own experiences. They seem to have experiences of every single workplace event/situation ever...

Pleased to see that I'm not the only person to spot that.

marliepanda

TELLIT01 wrote: »

Pleased to see that I'm not the only person to spot that.

I think a lot of people have exercised the use of the ignore button, which is why it doesn't come up from more seasoned posters.

OmegaA

Hi,
My employer fired me last year (their team is only 12 people and doesn’t grow despite they recruit 20-25 people each year, so absolutely massive turnover)

There was a clause in the contract that they may ask me repay recruitment fees if I leave within 12 months. Yes, I did not leave, they fired me (related to performance, we had only one meeting to discuss), but this is beyond the point. My question is what are legal rights of the employer to sue me to recover the recruitment fees (we are about 9 months from the redundancy date)

I do not know the costs of my recruitment, but the recruitment agencies typically charge £10-40k for a person like me

I found a few bits and pieces on internet:

1. “Employers and employment agencies are not allowed to make you use fee-paying services (e.g., CV writing, training courses, or transport) as a requirement for finding you work” (this applies to Northern Ireland, but I live and work in England).

2. Under some circumstances, this can be treated a version of “indentured servitude”, but not clear if this will apply to my case

3. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13 “Right not to suffer unauthorised deductions” – when I read the clause about the deduction, recruiter told me that this is not enforceable, so I signed the contract (the contract was about 120 pages, I never seen such a long employment contract before). However, I don’t have evidence that we discussed this nor that I even seen that clause (and it is plausible because the contract is so long)

Is it enforceable to recover recruitment fees, particularly when I do not know them? 

Thank you

Comms69

OmegaA said:

Hi,
My employer fired me last year (their team is only 12 people and doesn’t grow despite they recruit 20-25 people each year, so absolutely massive turnover)

There was a clause in the contract that they may ask me repay recruitment fees if I leave within 12 months. Yes, I did not leave, they fired me (related to performance, we had only one meeting to discuss), but this is beyond the point. My question is what are legal rights of the employer to sue me to recover the recruitment fees (we are about 9 months from the redundancy date)

I do not know the costs of my recruitment, but the recruitment agencies typically charge £10-40k for a person like me

I found a few bits and pieces on internet:

1. “Employers and employment agencies are not allowed to make you use fee-paying services (e.g., CV writing, training courses, or transport) as a requirement for finding you work” (this applies to Northern Ireland, but I live and work in England).

2. Under some circumstances, this can be treated a version of “indentured servitude”, but not clear if this will apply to my case

3. Employment Rights Act 1996, section 13 “Right not to suffer unauthorised deductions” – when I read the clause about the deduction, recruiter told me that this is not enforceable, so I signed the contract (the contract was about 120 pages, I never seen such a long employment contract before). However, I don’t have evidence that we discussed this nor that I even seen that clause (and it is plausible because the contract is so long)

Is it enforceable to recover recruitment fees, particularly when I do not know them? 

Thank you

Start your own thread in the future, but as it's so simple ill answer here.

They have 6 years to claim the fee. If it's in the contract it's likely to atleast have a legitimate claim behind it. You do know about them, because you signed the contract. 

(dont sign things you arent happy with)