I could really do with some advice...

On Friday (25th April), my Employer has served me with a letter stating that there is every possibility that my position is going to be made redundant.  This follows a whole scenario of events. My main concern is that I have recently enrolled on a college course and the company have a clawback procedure in place.  I was hoping that someone could advise whether I am still liable to repay the fees in the event of being made redundant?

There are a few points to note.  I have not signed anything to accept that I am liable for course fees (although there is something written in the handbook re: clawing fees back should you leave within 12 months).  The company subjected me to a disciplinary hearing about booking onto the course as they said I did not have authorisation. The outcome of the disciplinary was in my favour as there were no policies in place, and I had e-mail confirmation to proceed with the course from my line manager.

There are a lot of underlying issues to the potential redundancy - unfortunately, I have not reached 12 month service and therefore have no rights as an employee for unfair dismissal.  During the last 3 months (I have 8 months service) I have had 3 different line managers, was only issued with a job description after 5 months service. The reason for me enrolling on the course was due to the fact that I anticipated a reduction in workload as a project I was working on had finished.  I have done everything within my power to ensure my job role is safe, and have strived to develop my skills in the companies favour.  The phrase, 'my cards were marked' springs to mind!

I realise there are possibly a few separate issues to deal with, but any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hi A,

Have a closer look at the part of the employee handbook about course fee repayment.  It is quite common to have these arrangements in place but also with the caveat that the repayment provisions will not apply in the case of a "good" leaver, which will often include circumstances like redundancy.

If there aren't any such good leaver provisions in the handbook then have you signed anything that says you accept the terms of the employee handbook as applicable to you?  That may have been included if you received a written statement of employment particulars and signed and returned a copy of that.

If you have signed something accepting that the provisions of the employment handbook apply to you then the company probably does have the right to recover the course fees - but I would still take issue with this given that you haven't signed a repayment clause relating to the fees for this specific course, and your employment is being ended by the company.

If you haven't signed anything accepting the provisions of the employee handbook, then the company cannot force you to repay the course fees.  They may withhold the fee from any notice pay thety should pay you, but if they did do that it would be an unlawful deduction of wages and you could pursue an employment tribunal claim about it.  Before you could bring an employment tribunal claim you would first of all have to raise a written complaint about this to your employer and then wait 28 days to give them a chance to resolve matters which might include inviting you to a meeting about it.  Once that 28 days had elapsed you could bring your ET claim.

Good luck.

Paul