Reimbursement of Training Fees Agreement - Dispute

bonniepops

Morning!

My first post, so please be gentle. Any advise from anyone with some sort of experience would be much appreciated.

I have handed my notice in to my current employer. I have swiftly received a letter from them detailing costs (almost £1,600) which they believe I owe them due to some training I have had which they will deduct from my final salary leaving me with nothing in my last pay packet.

I did not realise I had entered into ANY training which I was financially liable for. There is a 'clawback' clause in my contract but this was signed when i started, nothing has ever specifically been given to me regarding the courses I was asked to undertake, no costs mentioned, it just seems like a catch all clause or any course they want to charge me for.

The 'clawback' clause in Personal Particulars states;

"The following fees will become repayable by you should you leave employment with the Company. This schedule is applicable to each course completed or each academic year completed"

This is then followed by the sliding % scale but no actual fees/ costs are mentioned as it's just a generic statement.


Within a week of starting (during the exciting 'I've got a new job and I need to sign a billion forms period') I have also signed a separate Reimbursement of Training Fees Agreement. The clawback clause is written slightly differently;

"Should the company pay for external training for the employee it is recognised that, due to the high cost involved with the training, the Company needs to protect its investment. Therefore, if the employee should terminate his/her employment of his own volition within 2 years of the completion of any such training then the following repayment terms will apply"

This is then again followed by the sliding % scale mentioned previously. It also includes a provision for the Company to deduct the above monies from my salary. Again, no fees of sums of money mentioned as it's a generic statement and not specific to any particular course.


There are 4 training courses detailed in the letter. 2 of which the Company has 'kindly' chosen not to reclaim for.

Course 1 - A general H&S Course - Course was booked for an employee who decided to leave the company before partaking in the course. The Company was looking for volunteers as the course had "already been paid for" (in their words). I volunteered, went on the course, I had no idea I was volunteering to be financially liable - the course was nothing to do with the job role I held nor will it help me in future.

Course 2 - An industry specific Course developed by a training company owned by the same person who owns the company I've resigned from - a course consisting of a number of different modules over several months. First one was undertaken Nov-2019, latest one Feb-2021. The course is not complete yet.
As I mentioned, this particular course is facilitated by a business owned by the MD of the company I'm employed by and is based in the same building

Courses 3 and 4 - one was a H&S manual handling course and the other was a commercial awareness course - they've stated they will not pursue costs of these. No idea why the others are being pursued but these are not. - I'm not complaining - just seems strange.


Now for my plethora of questions;

1. Course 1, no costs have ever been shared, just this 'catch all' clause in the training agreement - Without costs being detailed can I be liable? How did I know what was chargeable and what wasn't?

2. Course 1, Under the circumstances, given the course was booked for someone else, can the Company reclaim the monies from me? I have taken the training under the explicit knowledge the money is already spent, therefore it is not costing the Company anything. Surely they tried to recover the costs from the previous employee?

3. Course 2, again, No costs have been shared / agreed. I had no idea there was a cost, especially since they are based in the same building and owned by the same guy.

4. Course 2, the Training agreement expressly states "...within 2 years of the COMPLETION of any such training...". The course is not complete, so can the Company reclaim monies from me if the training is NOT completed as per the wording of their agreement?

5. Course 2, can the Company reclaim monies per module as opposed to the whole course? Their wording states completion of the course. The course has apparently been paid for (I would suspect at the same time - likely pre-Nov-2019) but they are breaking it down into modules and seeking to recover each one individually.


As mentioned previously - any sort of guidance would be very much appreciated as I find the situation to be quite confusing.

Many thanks!
bonnie

Undervalued

Reclaiming of training fees needs a specific written agreement. This can be included in the contract of employment (providing it is actually signed) but is more often a separate document. Properly drafted and agreed they are legally enforceable, providing the amount reclaimed is proportionate and reasonable. You would need to get specific advice on whether yours is or not.

The more practical problem is that, as you say, they will deduct them amount they feel is owed from your final salary. Realistically you cannot stop this happening, so it leaves you to take legal action against them if you feel the amount is either not owed at all or is excessive.

bonniepops

Thanks Undervalued, much appreciated.
I have come to terms that my final salary will be... Well, almost no salary and will have to be challenged afterwards. Such is life.

However I'm quite conscious of the fact that no fees were agreed upfront - therefore it becomes a bit of an open cheque for the employer - in addition to a warranty in the contract that employee must attent training as instructed (don't have the actual wording, but I'm sure you get what I mean).

Hopefully clear heads will prevail and we'll come to an agreement before it gets out of hand

Thanks again,
Bonnie

TELLIT01

I suspect you will need a specialist employment lawyer to confirm whether or not the catch-all is valid and enforcable or if a separate agreement was required for each course.  I have no idea one way or the other.

pjcox2005

Disclosure: I've no legal/HR background so this is just what i think may be a practical starting point:

I personally would challenge Course 1 explaining you stepped into a course that was being offered free as it had already been paid for by another employee and this should be removed.

For the second course, I'd ask them to provide supporting invoices for the modules and time incurred. You may find that given dual ownership the invoices haven't been raised and they can't properly evidence the costs they've charged you which may help with challenging it.

oh_really

I'd argue this is simply a result of ongoing provisions for on the job training and induction to enable you to do the job you were employed to do and to enable employers to meet their statutory duties.

What level were the courses?

74jax

Surely Course 1 would have been reclaimed for by the person leaving - just like you are having to pay back - so if you pay it too the company has been paid paid twice for this course.

pinkshoes

I would argue that course 1 should not be paid for and you only attended this due to to a free space being available. Perhaps the other person didn't have to pay as they didn't actually do the course, because the contract does say COMPLETED course...

For course 2, I would argue that this is an INTERNAL course given it is run by the MD's company, and your separate contract for repayment of course fees states: 

"Should the company pay for external training for the employee it is recognised that, due to the high cost involved with the training, the Company needs to protect its investment. Therefore, if the employee should terminate his/her employment of his own volition within 2 years of the completion of any such training then the following repayment terms will apply"

They cannot charge you for modules you have not done yet, as they are not COMPLETED. But also their wording on the main contracts talks about payment of COMPLETED courses, or completing academic years.

I would be asking for a breakdown of all modules taken for this module and costs for each module accompanied by a copy of the invoice for each module that they paid to the MD's separate company. 

I would put all this in writing and state that due to their demand of fees contradicting the contract you have signed, then you will be seeking advice from an employment lawyer.