Change in T&C's

[leedavey]

Hi looking for advice,

I've been employed on a Fixed Term training contract for several years. large company about £1 billion turnover and 5000 employees.
Contract I signed said that I wasn't expecetd to pay back any training costs if I left, great.

I'm now 3 months away from the end of my contract and will be made redundant. No complaints there simply isn't a vacancy.

However now teh manager of my section has informed me that he is imposing a unilateral change in my contract requiring me to pay back all my training fees (£12,000) when I leave. As this is in line with the new trainees contracts.

So three months away from £6,000 redundancy payout I'm now facing a stark choice;
1) Accept it and end up owing £6,000 (12k - 6k) - That's not going to happen.
2) Leave and lose the £6k redundancy payoff, don't want that either!
3) Attempt to claim unfair constructive dismissal, but I have heard that that is difficult to proove.

Given that this change of T&C's only applies to me in the entire company I feel that the 'some other substantial reason' defence in a billion £ company wouldn't wash

Looking for some advice, on my options next steps.
Thanks
(P.s. the new contract also ermoves my contractual payrise due in April of £1,000, so my redundancy if I get it would be less than I was expecting.)

[bluebottle]

Re: Change in T&C's

Hi Lee and welcome to Legal Beagles.

Reading through your post, I think your best course of action is to consult an employment solicitor. Before doing that, speak to ACAS (Arbitration Conciliation and Advisory Service) whose advice is impartial and free.

As far as I know, you signed a contract and, unless there are over-riding legal reasons, you should be able to hold this company to the terms of that contract. But you need to speak to ACAS and a solicitor first.