So you join a company and they give you training but you sign to say that for a period of time you agree to pay back a set amount if you leave with in a set period my question is is that agreement really enforceable of is it a ploy to keep you there ?
bjd:
So you join a company and they give you training but you sign to say that for a period of time you agree to pay back a set amount if you leave with in a set period my question is is that agreement really enforceable of is it a ploy to keep you there ?
I would say signing anything makes a contract,but is it worth their while chasing you for it, probably not.
bobbya:
I would say signing anything makes a contract,but is it worth their while chasing you for it, probably not.
I agree, though as you’ve signed a contract they could probably legally withhold any outstanding pay when you leave.
If you sign, you pay.
Haven’t heard of this with training in transport, some places you get a pittance during training, this must something very specialised indeed.
It’s a ploy to make sure they get their moneys worth out of your training, but their only real course of action would be to take you to the small claims court. Then if you don’t pay, they have to issue a request for bailiffs and if that fails they could usually request a visit from the High Court Sherrif bailiffs. All this of course costs money, so it would likely depend on how much the training cost.
One thing however they could do is either withhold a reference or tell your new employer what you did if a reference is requested (or even if the new employer just calls them up) and that might not look too good if you left say 2 months after taking a £1500 course. Possibly the better option for a lot of employers.
I’d love to know what sort of transport operation this is.
Car transporters probably cost as much to train new recruits as any, even after training there will be ongoing costs such as low productivity for months and the odd bit of, or even major, damage, it happens, if they got rid of every newby who bollocksed up there’d be no one working here.
The drop out rate for anything up to 12 months after training his high, yet i’ve never heard of one single operator trying to charge for that training, they’re struggling enough to get suitable new blood as it is, if they tried to pull this stunt they might as well call in the receiver now.
Well I’m being trained tomorrow for a few days! 
They’ve got their work cut out! 
I’m being paid £11.50 an hour for it, and I’ve had no mention of having to pay it back.
But let’s see what tomorrow brings…
If you sign up to repay with time worked or by default, repay the money then the debt has to be paid. If you have outstanding pay, then that will be held until you are settled. When I left a company it was within the period that I had agreed I would have to repay the cost of my first digi card. Sure enough, final pay showed a deduction for the card.
Evil8Beezle:
Well I’m being trained tomorrow for a few days!
I’m being paid £11.50 an hour for it, and I’ve had no mention of having to pay it back.
But let’s see what tomorrow brings…
Your new employer is in for a rude awakening. … 
I think this is quite usual on the tankers,
2 pals of mine got their ADR training & were subjected to a similar arrangement
To the OP simple answer - yes.
As I posted earlier on another thread, if the terms re repayment in the event of you leaving within a set time are contained within your employment contract then you are still bound even if you don’t sign it - by continuing to turn up for work after it has been issued to you is deemed as being your acceptance of terms within…
This is not something a bloke in the pub told me - in a previous life I worked for an employment law consultancy…
As someone else has pointed out though the employer has to decide whether worth persuing, although they can legally take from your final pay packet…as long as their Contract of Employment is robust enough and allows for this…
Well what are peoples’ opinions on this then?
As posted in another thread, a tipper firm are deducting pay if the required loads are not done. Drivers are paid day rates but miraculously an “hour” goes missing if you don’t do the amount shown on your work details.
Muckaway:
Well what are peoples’ opinions on this then?
As posted in another thread, a tipper firm are deducting pay if the required loads are not done. Drivers are paid day rates but miraculously an “hour” goes missing if you don’t do the amount shown on your work details.
Then my last load would be dumped in front of the office door. Jeez there are some crap bosses and stupid drivers working for them.
Honked:
Muckaway:
Well what are peoples’ opinions on this then?
As posted in another thread, a tipper firm are deducting pay if the required loads are not done. Drivers are paid day rates but miraculously an “hour” goes missing if you don’t do the amount shown on your work details.Then my last load would be dumped in front of the office door. Jeez there are some crap bosses and stupid drivers working for them.
^^^ very much this. Why do drivers put up with that kind of ■■■■■■
Muckaway:
Well what are peoples’ opinions on this then?
As posted in another thread, a tipper firm are deducting pay if the required loads are not done. Drivers are paid day rates but miraculously an “hour” goes missing if you don’t do the amount shown on your work details.
For training as in getting a HGV license or hazardous ticket I think its perfectly reasonable to expect a driver to be required to do a REASONABLE period of time or have to repay it. If its something like being paid to learn to do car transporter or to deal with a particular type of vehicle then it isn’t, that comes under an induction which every single employer should be giving to every new employee.
A tipper firm deducting pay if the required loads are not done? I’d be on the phone to the Traffic Commissioner as they are actually breaking the law and not complying with the terms of their O license by putting undue pressure on the driver to break the law.
If all accrued holidays have been taken and no outstanding holidays are due, throw a sickie until after the wages your owed have been paid …then jack.
Then ignore the demands for training monies.
… Has anyone seen my Tin hat?
It’s a perfectly normal clause in a contract of employment.
I’ve never seen one that requires you to pay your wages back; what it normally does is say that if you leave within x months you pay x % back and then decreases over the length of time you are with the company.
If a company puts you through £500.00 of training for a week, then you leave two weeks later, that means they are £500.00 down.
I can’t think of any training that would be a lot more than that and if you are working a week in hand, then the answer is that your wages would be withheld to the value of £500.00, or wahtever percentage had been agreed.
It is legally enforceable.
bjd:
So you join a company and they give you training but you sign to say that for a period of time you agree to pay back a set amount if you leave with in a set period my question is is that agreement really enforceable of is it a ploy to keep you there ?
You are not saying what sort of training,
If a Company has forked out a few grand to say get a person through his/her test then it reasonable to put a sliding repayment scale into the contract if its signed by the Employee its legally binding.
If the contract is not to your liking you and dont want to be tied to any time scale dont sign,don`t do the training,find another job,simple as that
If its a new company you are starting with, i can partly understand, and it would form part of your contract with them ( and they would have the advantage because they will hold part of your wages, however if you are working at a company, and they want to give you training to their advantage, thats their problem, and their loss if you decided its not for you. I would only pay if it was to my advantage.