I must confess that I am pants at employment law. It all seems back to front to me so I took the opinion of a colleague who is also a Brief.

I am advised that strictly speaking, it is a breach of contract for your employer not to pay for courses even if they are paying for exams.

You would however, need to check the specific wording of the contract. If the contract is vague the liklehood is that it will be construed in your favour (i.e. in favour of the employee) because the employee is percieved to be the weaker party.

So in summary, it would appear that subject to the wording, yes you can claim in the ET.

With regards to repayment of a percentage of cost of exams to employer, these clauses are enforceable by the employer, provided they are reasonable and carefully worded.

Usually the most effective clauses are those providing a sliding scale of when the person leaves. It may not be deemed reasonable that an employer recoupes 70% of costs after 2 years however.

There are a lot of vague and ambigious points I make in this post and the main reason for that is not to protect my butt from a law suit but because that is how employment law is.

There are a lot of firms out there that offer "no win - no fee" advice on employment law matters too, (not just personal injury work like most people believe) -it may be worth checking them out and getting some free or low cost preliminary advice from a Solicitor who can actually look at your contract and give you a definitive answer.

Have you talked to your line manager about this?

A quick chat is always preferable to reaching for your legal team in the first instance.

MSR

Originally Posted by msr

Have you talked to your line manager about this?

A quick chat is always preferable to reaching for your legal team in the first instance.

MSR

My line manager is the chap who told me my training hadn’t been budgeted for.
Funny as the director of IT he’s the one who decides how our budget is spent

I wont be calling on my brief unless they try to screw me when I leave.

In that case, take your contract in with you and have a stern chat.

I’ve already tried that, I’ve even had a chat with his boss and got the same answer.

formal grievance procedure - your company will have one.


If you leave and then try to claim constructive dismissal in an ET then you're unlikely to win unless you've used the grievance proc.

Try dropping D_Evil a PM. This is his bag, but I am reliably informed his fembots are overseas.

Originally Posted by Goku

Originally Posted by msr

Have you talked to your line manager about this?

A quick chat is always preferable to reaching for your legal team in the first instance.

MSR

My line manager is the chap who told me my training hadn’t been budgeted for.
Funny as the director of IT he’s the one who decides how our budget is spent

I wont be calling on my brief unless they try to screw me when I leave.

Its often much better and less expensive to see a brief before you leave so you know what your position is ........at the end of the day no one in this room has seen your contract and until they do, no one can advise you properly.

I get about five queries a day regarding the same types of issues, I myself have also been taken to Court by my former employer and it all came down to the wording of the contract.

Your employer states that they will pay for your training to be mutually agreed. However from what I can tell it does not state that they have to make sure that you go an a different course every year. If you tried to raise this point in an ET you would more then likely fail in honesty (however this is my personal opinion and someone else may take a different view).

Exams are fundamentally different training. The course is arranged by you and unless you have formally agreed, either by verbal or written contract, that you will pay them back of the exams then you will not have to pay. If they tried to say that there was a verbal contract, there would have to be some kind of proof and then in your defence you could also bring up their breach of contract.

If you are unhappy about any aspect of your employment then you have to raise a formal written grievance. You must submit this to your employer/HR dep, or preferably both. They then have to respond to this in 28 days, if they do not or fail to deal with your query adequately then you have to raise another grievance.

And as a byword for all those clever clogs who have stated that you should claim constructive dismissal, here is some guidance. Con dis claims are the most difficult to prove and the most difficult types of claim to actually win. You have to prove that the event that has occurred is the "straw that broke the camels back" as it were. That is to say, that there was no other option left available to you, other then to resign.