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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I just resigned! AIBU to not pay for work course before leaving

210 replies

Hellomumsne · 26/11/2019 23:35

I have a dilemma I could use some help with.

My job offered for me to go on a very expensive (£4500) course a few months ago. They actually persuaded me to do it and said they'd love for me to have the chance...

At the time I said I've already studied said subject so I wasnt sure I needed it. And I also asked if there were any conditions and was told no.

There's a bit of a back story with a bit of a rubbish and absent manager who's quite clueless... also a little bullying and unfair treatment.

So I've just accepted a new job which unluckily I was offered while doing the course.

I resigned and have now been asked by literally furious manager to pay back the money or face legal action.

It would be easier for the sake of peace to pay back but I would need to take it from my mortgage.

One friend advised me to pay it back for peace. Another advised me to no way pay it back and go to Citizens Advice.

I have no idea. AIBU to walk away without paying (and face legal action)... or should I just take the hit and pay?

OP posts:
Roussette · 27/11/2019 07:28

Why did you agree to go on the course if you were thinking of leaving? You must've had an idea you might well have another job, even if it was booked a while ago, just wondering why you wouldn't get out of it?

When you started going for interviews, could you not have pulled out?

Roussette · 27/11/2019 07:30

I accepted because the company owner was very upset about the previous girl rejecting the course offer and then leaving

This is not a good reason! You went one step further. Do the course costing £4,500 and then leave! It's no wonder they're a bit upset about this. I have no idea if you should pay it back, but if I was running the Co I would be a bit pissed off.

DollyPomPoms · 27/11/2019 07:38

I’ve not rtft but do you think they may have already booked something for the girl that left, had to cancel it but didn’t get a refund so had to book something else to use the credit up?!

ImaginaryCat · 27/11/2019 07:38

I have undertaken £1,000s worth of training at work and it's always started with a contract stating the repayment terms if I leave within a set timeframe of the course finishing (eg full amount within first year, 50% after 1 yr).
I now work in a field where we facilitate PhD level PD for colleagues and always tie them to similar contracts.
If your boss didn't do this I suspect ACAS will say they can go screw themselves.
Most standard PD is offered with no repayment conditions, which is why companies have to make special provision in the case of high cost PD, or anything that makes an employee particularly ripe for headhunting by competitors.

orangeteal · 27/11/2019 07:50

It's really difficult to claw that money back, I wouldn't fret about it tbh, it's probably hot air, they can probably take a certain amount from your last pay cheque. We've had this where I work.

RedskyToNight · 27/11/2019 07:50

OK so to go on the course last week and hand in your notice this week really does look incredibly bad. No wonder your managers are furious.

cherrytreecottage · 27/11/2019 07:53

I had a similar experience. I was "told" to go on a course which cost a fair amount of money. Usually, employees were made to sign agreements that stated the fees would be paid back if you left the company within 2 years. Somehow; I was never asked to sign this agreement but a colleague in the same department was. (She started the course after me, and asked if I'd signed a contract) When I left, within the 2 years, I was asked if I'd signed said agreement to which I hadn't & therefore I wasn't liable to pay it back on this basis.

blueshoes · 27/11/2019 07:57

Also OP, note the anger from company director and HRs insistence that you will pay it all back - they’re crapping themselves that they didn’t get you to sign any documents, hence their behaviour.

Yes, your manager and HR etc messed up big time by sponsoring your course without making you sign anything. If the owner is angry, she is as angry at them.

If they tried to get you to sign something, you probably would have turned it down the course and they knew it because you asked about conditions. That supports your assertion that you took the course after being assured there were no conditions.

Waveysnail · 27/11/2019 08:03

You offered to pay - do they have that in writing?

Original poster
Hellomumsne · 27/11/2019 08:12

Yes. It's terrible timing and that's why the company owner is upset. But that's just an unlucky coincidence. I was offered the new job while on the course and took a long time to decide.
Then yesterday I was told that my colleague who has been a bully in the past, has been promoted and is now my boss and will do work that I've previously been doing (even though he has no experience at all)... that sort of sealed the deal.

OP posts:
MT2017 · 27/11/2019 08:25

@Waveysnail

Stupidly, I actually offered to pay it back thinking they would decline... when I formally resigned things took a turn for the nasty and I got the email threatening legal action... then i replied (also stupidly) saying something like "as promised im happy to pay some of it back but will struggle no pay back the full amount"... and the reply to that was more threats.

I took a funded qualification and was the only person not to have signed something re pay back in case I left (my work didn't ask me to).

havingtochangeusernameagain · 27/11/2019 08:31

OK so to go on the course last week and hand in your notice this week really does look incredibly bad. No wonder your managers are furious

But what is the OP is supposed to do? Turn down the new job? You can't help the timing.

She didn't want to go on the course in the first place. And doesn't want to work for her new boss.

Anyway OP, what's moral is irrelevant. It's what matters legally. Talk to ACAS as previous posters have suggested.

altiara · 27/11/2019 08:31

Sounds like they had a place at a conference type course and needed someone to fill it. It’s not something you would put in a contract as you’re not getting a qualification. Think they’re just annoyed as they could’ve sent someone else.

Roussette · 27/11/2019 08:41

But you could easily have turned the course down, given you were thinking of leaving? If I was applying for jobs and going for interviews, and there was an option not to go on this course (as it sounds like there was), I would have politely declined.

misspiggy19 · 27/11/2019 08:50

Hang on, you went on the course last week and this week you've handed in your notice? hmm

^I think you have behaved quite immoral in this situation. Sheer coincidence? Hmm

No wonder they are furious. Looks like you planned it all along. Kiss goodbye to a reference OP.

SoxiFodoujUmed · 27/11/2019 08:50

As there's nothing in writing they have not got a leg to stand on. if they try to withhold final salary you can take them to court and you will win. you are right that it wad a mistake that you raised the possibility of paying it back but that is no more binding or provable than the conversation where you asked for reassurance that there was no obligation. you never particularly wanted to do the course anyway. you shouldn't suffer a financial penalty for this.

GoldFrankincenseMyrrh · 27/11/2019 08:51

This looks a lot like they paid for the training for one colleague who left and then couldn't get a refund so palmed it off on you, albeit as a gesture of goodwill.
Now they are trying to get you to repay the money because you are leaving but it is their mistake for booking a non-refundable course.

Someone has royally fucked up here and that is why the owner is angry, their is a reasonable chance it is her/him.

Everyone has said speak to ACAS so I'm sure you will but personally I would be contacting the owner directly to ask who made this mistake and why she is angry at you who did the course in good faith but who has been offered a great opportunity to progress in your career. Make them face up to their own mistakes rather than projecting it onto someone who had no control over the process.

busybarbara · 27/11/2019 08:57

It’s their job to prove you agreed to compensate them, not yours. The idea of paying this back is ridiculous though. If an employer bought you a computer or expanded premises to give you an office or bought you a company car, that doesn’t mean they can start billing you for the losses on these things if you quit.

Hingeandbracket · 27/11/2019 09:01

Don’t worry about a reference- most of the comments on here about that are stuck in the 1950s
A PP said training repayment contracts aren’t enforceable - that is bollocks too.

Pomley · 27/11/2019 09:02

They can't give a bad reference because OP did a course of which they hadn't covered themselves for a ROS. Also most references now tend to be I can confirm that x worked here for the period y. Honestly, so much bad advice on here and so many preachy moral beacons. The course was only offered to OP as someone else dropped out, they would have lost their money anyway; it wasn't related to the job so why they chose to send her on it anyway is curious. If anyone should be furious it's the OP for getting demands to pay it back when she has no obligation to. If you run a business cover yourselves appropriately.

Hingeandbracket · 27/11/2019 09:02

But they can only enforce it if it exists of course

SoupDragon · 27/11/2019 09:07

My contract doesn't mention training. Just that any "losses" will be taken from the salary.

Surely this counts as a "loss" though?

Biker47 · 27/11/2019 09:15

When I've been on significant course before I've always signed something saying I'd have to pay it back in full or a percentage depending on how long after, if I leave the company.

I know someone who had to pay back a course fee, and did so in tiny amounts over a really long period of time, more out of spite, nothing that could be done legally to force them to pay more as they were making repayments, so that's always an option lol.

Passthecherrycoke · 27/11/2019 09:17

FWIW I was funded for my professional qualifications and left shortly after which is fairly common. They cost far more than OPs training. I had signed a repayment document but said it was unreasonable to expect it all paid at once. They gave me 12 months. After 12 months I offered them 50%. They seemed surprised I’d paid it back at all really.

GiveHerHellFromUs · 27/11/2019 09:17

I'd assume they'd already paid for the course when the other girl then declined it which was why they were so insistent that somebody did it.

If you're 100% certain there's nothing in your contract and have no communication from them that you will be liable for the costs, there's not much they can do.

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