I work for a certain Company ADR delivering Fuel. Upon entering employment, I signed the contract THEN signed a sheet of paper saying that if I left within 3 years I would have to pay back training costs (Nothing to do with the contract). Totalling to an amazing £3000. Please note, I had ADR and Full CPC before employment with this company. The only training given was “at work training”.
Question 1
Am I right in saying they cant take this out of wages earned?
Question 2
I know for a fact that training did not cost them that much. In fact while “training” I was earning them money. How can they enforce this? Making me pay back £3000?
Question 3
Can I contest this by asking for proof that it did indeed cost the amount they are asking?
Would appreciate any help with this. Am thinking of leaving due to money and work being slow.So before I do anything want to clear this up.
firstly I would assume these £3000 training costs would be for driving licnces C & C+E not “on the job” training as that usually what they are.
Secondly why did you sign the piece of paper if it didn’t state what specific training costs you would be required to reimburse if you left within 3 yrs…?
My Driving Licences I had before employment with said company. So it cant be for that >_<
I signed it, because with out signing it, no job! I left the Army and relocated for this job. So I needed it! A little more information, Just browsed my contract again, I can 100% say it says NOTHING about paying training fees back. I signed it because I needed to.
Thanks for swift reply
Just curious how they can justify wanting me to pay back that much when I had everything I ever needed for the job before I started working for them
I wouldn’t worry about it, same thing happened me a few months back, it stated in my contract that they could recover costs, but didn’t due to me having a man 2 man chat with the boss, I stated I wasn’t happy n needed out or I would be going on the sick due to work related stress which would of cost them more! If there dicks just go on the sick then hand in ur notice
Learning to load and discharge the product, Double manned with a “worker” used as a “trainer”. i.e Meet him at start, he would load and do his deliveries and I would assist/watch/learn/do for 2 weeks. I would then do a test “solo load and unload” and done!
I wonder if they had some scheme for getting drivers through their licences, and someone got you to sign the standard form by mistake? I know that Safeways used to have a scheme where they put staff through their tests and charged them if they left. That became a problem, and they switched to one where you had to borrow the money, and they paid you to pay it back. If you left - that stopped of course.
Im %99 sure this is not the case. I can clearly remember him saying people were leaving after getting their foot in the fuel tanker industry and going to greener pastures. Which I can imagine happened alot haha so this is way this training fee was around.
But I would like to know if they can actually enforce it
Don’t worry about paying back “on the job training”. Any ADR firm has a legal responsibility under the H&S Regs to train you up to safely deliver their products. There is no cost for you for this, it is their responsibility. They have a “Duty of Care”. Tell the to go forth and multiply and if need be, let them take you to Court and argue your case.
If it was training to obtain licenses, ADR or DCPC for which they paid then they could claim that cost back from you if you left within a specified period of time if they were so inclined and you signed agreement to the fact.
mikeshe:
Don’t worry about paying back “on the job training”. Any ADR firm has a legal responsibility under the H&S Regs to train you up to safely deliver their products. There is no cost for you for this, it is their responsibility. They have a “Duty of Care”. Tell the to go forth and multiply and if need be, let them take you to Court and argue your case.
If it was training to obtain licenses, ADR or DCPC for which they paid then they could claim that cost back from you if you left within a specified period of time if they were so inclined and you signed agreement to the fact.
Thanks for clearing that up. As said my licenses, Dcpc and ADR were optained before employment to no cost to this company at all. I will let you know how this plays out
You signed a contract and they could probably make you abide by it, take some advice and get professional legal advice before dropping yourself in the [zb].
I’ve worked for two big gases companies who adopted pretty much the same type of “on the job” training. There is not a cost associated with this type of training on individuals employed as it is the responsibility of the employer. I have left both companies and there was never any mention of repaying a cost for this training. There was a clause for those who had HGV training etc and any other training with an associated outside cost. On the job training is a requirement for these companies with a duty of care. There is no cost involved in that…to you.
Training is a legal requirement but as far as I’m aware there’s no law to stop a company protecting their investment.
If I’m understanding this correctly the OP went out with a driver/trainer for two weeks to be trained, the company almost certainly have a legal right to protect that investment, I doubt anyone would disagree that £3000 is excessive and I suspect a court may come to the same conclusion but that wouldn’t necessarily void the contract the OP signed.
There’s every possibility that the company may not try to enforce the agreement anyway, but I still feel the OP needs professional legal advice, which can be got quite cheap on the Internet these days.
mikeshe:
I have left both companies and there was never any mention of repaying a cost for this training
No, but did you sign a contract to say that you would repay the cost of the training ?
Just to confirm. It’s not in my contract. It was a separate piece of paper. Which I did not get a copy of. Surely it’s illegal to say. Job is yours. But only if you agree to pay this extreme amount if you leave within 3 years.
Jamiemufu:
Just to confirm. It’s not in my contract. It was a separate piece of paper. Which I did not get a copy of. Surely it’s illegal to say. Job is yours. But only if you agree to pay this extreme amount if you leave within 3 years.
Sounds like you signed a separate contract, I believe that you’re legally entitled to a copy of any contract you sign so it may not be worth the paper it’s written on, I could be wrong though
A phone call to the CAB may be worthwhile and free.
Jamiemufu:
Just to confirm. It’s not in my contract. It was a separate piece of paper. Which I did not get a copy of. Surely it’s illegal to say. Job is yours. But only if you agree to pay this extreme amount if you leave within 3 years.
Sorry but the fact it was a separate piece of paper doesn’t mean it isn’t a contract. And I’m afraid that yes it is perfectly legal to have such a term.
However they would find it hard to come after you for training costs when you already had the appropriate bits of paper beforehand.
Jamiemufu:
Learning to load and discharge the product, Double manned with a “worker” used as a “trainer”. i.e Meet him at start, he would load and do his deliveries and I would assist/watch/learn/do for 2 weeks. I would then do a test “solo load and unload” and done!
That’s what all good companies should do rather than drop people in the deep end and tell them to not ■■■■ it up.
It’s an employer’s responsibility to insure that employees are adequately trained to carry out the job safely,
In some cases where they put a driver through their test/adr/high cost training, it’s fair to recover the cost of training if they decide to leave after a short period as the qualifications can be used benefit another company.
I think they made you sign in error if not, and you’ve not had a certificate or proof that you have been trained, there’s no way you can use it to your advantage, you should not be charged.
i’ve had to sign more or less the same thing and not received any training other than following someone for a couple of days, on leaving they didn’t say anything about paying anything back.
I work for a certain Company ADR delivering Fuel. Upon entering employment, I signed the contract THEN signed a sheet of paper saying that if I left within 3 years I would have to pay back training costs (Nothing to do with the contract). Totalling to an amazing £3000. Please note, I had ADR and Full CPC before employment with this company. The only training given was “at work training”.
Question 1
Am I right in saying they cant take this out of wages earned?
Question 2
I know for a fact that training did not cost them that much. In fact while “training” I was earning them money. How can they enforce this? Making me pay back £3000?
Question 3
Can I contest this by asking for proof that it did indeed cost the amount they are asking?
Would appreciate any help with this. Am thinking of leaving due to money and work being slow.So before I do anything want to clear this up.
Thanks a bunch!
I presume you did not have any experience of delivering fuel and required full training,remember it is not only load & discharge but all the DSEAR and associated theory training including terminal inductions and indeminity costs that the fuel company have to pay for and they were trying to protect their investment as it is becoming quite common to see newly trained drivers moving companies especially with the low cost haulier paying a lot less than the established fuel hauliers. Having said all this to ask some one to pay that amount back is excessive.
I get what you are saying, but training costs, is NOT investments/protection or whatever you want to call it. I would imagine they would actually need to provide proof of exactly what they have spent training me. I know I wont be paying it blindly without proof of said costs. I mean I thought it would go off exact costs and not speculative costs
You dont need to pay them ,and they will be commiting an offence if they try to make deductions from your wages.If you get any grief from them just say see you in court.There they would have to show what they have actually lost or invested in you.
