Left work now I have to pay back fees

J

jesster

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My company put me on a course so that I could move up the ladder in work. It finishes up in the next fews months and they offered me a new role but it's in Cork, I live in Dublin so I decided to leave. I finished work yesterday after working my notice.

In March he paid 3000 for me to attend it and I signed a contract saying if I left in 2 years after course I would have to pay it back. I have no problem with that at all.

Anyway, my boss now wants a cheque for 3000 for the course fees he said I can post date it to Dec 1 so I have time to get money. Problem is that I don't have 3000 to spare. I sent him an email today to say I can pay 500 a month for next 6 months. I looked at the agreement I signed and it doesn't say anything about how it's to be paid back.

Can he turn around and not agree to my terms and force me to pay in full in one payment?
 
jesster said:
My company put me on a course so that I could move up the ladder in work. It finishes up in the next fews months and they offered me a new role but it's in Cork, I live in Dublin so I decided to leave. I finished work yesterday after working my notice.

In March he paid 3000 for me to attend it and I signed a contract saying if I left in 2 years after course I would have to pay it back. I have no problem with that at all.

Anyway, my boss now wants a cheque for 3000 for the course fees he said I can post date it to Dec 1 so I have time to get money. Problem is that I don't have 3000 to spare. I sent him an email today to say I can pay 500 a month for next 6 months. I looked at the agreement I signed and it doesn't say anything about how it's to be paid back.

Can he turn around and not agree to my terms and force me to pay in full in one payment?
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Sit down and talk to him about it.
 
Does the contract stipulate you could be transferred to any part of the country the company decides or did you assume you could remain in Dublin?
 
Well I have no job as of today. Our company was taken over and they let go half the staff so I reckon the Cork thing was a way to get rid of me. It worked I guess, in saying that I wasn't happy there.

I was under the impression (verbal) that I would have to go on the road in a sales capacity like the other sales reps but I could travel back home in the evening. I wouldn't mind even staying overnight somewhere but the job role they offered was mon-fri 9-5.30 in Cork so it wasn't what I was expecting. Nothing was ever written down.

The whole thing has kind of gotta nasty. He rang me up this morning saying he wants the money. I told him I can't afford 3k by Dec 1 and could I pay in installments. He said he wants me to email him a schedule and he would see if that was acceptable to him. So I mailed him the 500 x 6 months. I am waiting on his response.

What I am asking really is can he reject this?
 
I think you are being more than fair by repaying €500 a month. I sure he is already after seeing some benefit of the course on work performance between March and now. give him post dated cheques at €500 a month shows you are commited to repaying it.
 
Before you do anything more I would suggest that you contact the Labour Relations Commission, Tom Johnson House, Haddington Road, Dublin 4. Tel. 6609662 and discuss the situation with them.

It is possible your employer is putting pressure on you because he is aware he is in an awkward situation himself and the situation may not be as clearcut as he would wish you to believe.
 
If you don't pay it whats gonna happen.
I would just say, em times are tough I am leaving and will not be paying all 3k back - why because the company probably got tax credits for it anyway.
I know it ain't right but you don't have the money.
 
olddoll said:
Does the contract stipulate you could be transferred to any part of the country the company decides or did you assume you could remain in Dublin?
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That’s a good point; if you are leaving because of a change in your terms and conditions then you should not have to pay the money back.
 
pennypitstop said:
why because the company probably got tax credits for it anyway.
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A very dubious argument - if you go around breaking windows, the fact that the company can get a tax deduction on the repair bill is a fairly weak defence.

Anyway, with corporation tax at just 12.5% the tax saving is minimal.
 
If you do eventually have to pay ensure that you get a receipt from the company to enable you to claim tax relief either now/in the future.
 
This is probably a minor point in the overall scheme of things but I think legally you are not supposed to postdate cheques?
That aside, if it is a complete change of your terms and conditions which caused you to resign, then I would suggest investigating that avenue. Try not to put anything in writing until you have clarified that piece. Best of luck, I hope that it works out for you.
 
As suggested by Olddoll, I would first contact Labour relations commisioner before committing to pay the fee back.
 
It sounds as if you may have been subject to "constructive" dismissal, ie offering you a far away post that you couldn't take. In that case I would not pay a penny back. They may take it from redundancy, but as you left there may be no redundancy!.

If you have been constructively dismissed you may have other routes to go in terms of getting redundancy etc.

I wrote a post dated cheque before and It got cashed, teh sum wasn;t huge, so the bank musn't have chequed the date!. I would be weary of giving too many post dated cheques.

If the company insist on settlement, offer them €50 per month over the next 100 months.
 
This is a classic case of constructive dismissal. Legal precedence is well established in this regard. Your employer cannot post you to timbuktu in anticipation that you will resign thereby saving them on paying you redundancy. They also have no right to pursue you for the cost of the course on the same basis.

I would definitely take advice before settling in any way here. I think you should actually be the one receiving money from them (in the form of redundancy) with no deduction for the course.


patspost said:
It sounds as if you may have been subject to "constructive" dismissal, ie offering you a far away post that you couldn't take. In that case I would not pay a penny back. They may take it from redundancy, but as you left there may be no redundancy!.

If you have been constructively dismissed you may have other routes to go in terms of getting redundancy etc.

I wrote a post dated cheque before and It got cashed, teh sum wasn;t huge, so the bank musn't have chequed the date!. I would be weary of giving too many post dated cheques.

If the company insist on settlement, offer them €50 per month over the next 100 months.
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