Refusing non essential training

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

Hello, the situation is the employer wants the employee to do a training course. The course is non essential, ie they are not a forklift driver refusing to take their forklift licence. The employees degree covers the subject matter in far more depth than the course does anyway.

The employee would have to repay the course fee, which is which is not insignificant, if they leave within two years.

The employee is likely to leave within two years, and their new direction would render the course irrelevant.

Can the employer force the employee to do the course?

[edc]

Is the request to enrol or attend the course reasonable? It sounds like it is. Can the employer force the employee to sign a repayment agreement? No.

[Mr Pointy]

edc said:

Is the request to enrol or attend the course reasonable? It sounds like it is. Can the employer force the employee to sign a repayment agreement? No.

The repayment agreement may already be a clause in his contract of employment - it's quite common.

[CoolHands]

How can you forced to sign for future fees in your contract when you don’t know what they are. Sounds like bks.

[Countdown]

Mr Pointy said:

edc said:

Is the request to enrol or attend the course reasonable? It sounds like it is. Can the employer force the employee to sign a repayment agreement? No.

The repayment agreement may already be a clause in his contract of employment - it's quite common.

Not for courses that the Employer requires you to attend. e.g. we have to do various mandatory courses, nobody suggests that we have to pay for them).

[Mr Penguin]

A contract that allows your employer to sign you up to charges without your consent in order to stop you leaving simply won't be enforceable.

[C5_Steve]

If the employer is insisting the course is required for the employee's current role then I'd be surprised if it's already in their contract that they have to repay any courses they've taken if they leave within two years. If your employer requires you to take a course it's so you can do the job they've hired you to do and they cover the cost.

The type of arrangement described is in my experience usually for courses that are optional, where there is a benefit to your employer of you undertaking it but it's not essential. There for your employer would agree to cover the cost stipulating that if you leave within a certain time period you'd need to repay it (as they won't have seen the benefit of you doing the course).

The bottom line, is if it's not in the employee's contract then they don't have to repay the cost if they leave, they'd have to sign a new agreement stating this. They can't be forced to sign an agreement to repay their employer when it's their employer who is making them take the course.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

CoolHands said:

How can you forced to sign for future fees in your contract when you don’t know what they are. Sounds like bks.

Often tapered by percentage. Pay back 100% of the training cost if employee leaves within 1 year, pay back 80% if leaving within 2 years, 60% if leaving within 3 years etc.

[Jasandjules]

Has the employer explained why the employee would be invited to pay for a course for a matter they have higher qualifications in?

[Cotty]

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

The employee would have to repay the course fee, which is which is not insignificant, if they leave within two years.

I had this at a company that I worked for. What happened was a lot of people did not undertake the courses. So it kind of backfired on them.

[Muzzer79]

I would say that the employer can 'force' the employee to take the course, assuming that it's in company time.

They cannot force the employee to pay for the course using the contractual stipulation you mention, unless the employee agrees to.

So, it's a simple case of

"happy to do the course, but don't agree to the payment clause"

[Countdown]

Cotty said:

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

The employee would have to repay the course fee, which is which is not insignificant, if they leave within two years.

I had this at a company that I worked for. What happened was a lot of people did not undertake the courses. So it kind of backfired on them.

The repayment clause tends to be for Courses that the Employee asks to go on. For example we have several people doing Accountancy exams. The company is paying all the fees and giving them time off. However when they signed the training agreement there was a clause that they would repay if they left within 2 years after qualifying (which is probably fair given the jump in salary they would get once qualified)

[Chainsaw Rebuild]

Thanks very much for the replies. It is a non essential course that the employer thinks is a good idea. I think it will be a case of refusing to sign the repayment contract, and going to the course if they insist and will waive the repayment.

[iphonedyou]

Countdown said:

The repayment clause tends to be for Courses that the Employee asks to go on. For example we have several people doing Accountancy exams. The company is paying all the fees and giving them time off. However when they signed the training agreement there was a clause that they would repay if they left within 2 years after qualifying (which is probably fair given the jump in salary they would get once qualified)

Indeed. We have repayment clauses for elective courses; for courses we've asked the employee to take, there's no clause. Which seems very equitable.

[craigjm]

Chainsaw Rebuild said:

Hello, the situation is the employer wants the employee to do a training course. The course is non essential, ie they are not a forklift driver refusing to take their forklift licence. The employees degree covers the subject matter in far more depth than the course does anyway.

The employee would have to repay the course fee, which is which is not insignificant, if they leave within two years.

The employee is likely to leave within two years, and their new direction would render the course irrelevant.

Can the employer force the employee to do the course?

Have they said the course is non-essential or is this your / the person you are talking about's own assessment of the situation simply because "they have done the learning before" This is an important piece of information missing from the post and impacts on the correct answer.