Training agreement

[Rigsy]

I work in a warehouse on minimum wage & my employer has offered to pay for an engineering degree that I will study in my own time for the next six years to become the company's manufacturing engineer. They have asked that I sign a lock in agreement for 5 years post completion of the degree. This means I would be locked into the company for 11 years & the contract doesn't stipulate any new job role or pay rise in that time. My concern is this feels like a very long time & I wonder if it's even legally binding to be beholden to a company for so long & still possibly face a damages claim if I leave. If it is then am I within my rights to attempt to negotiate a job role on completion of the training? Any help if advice on this would be highly appreciated.

[R0b]

Re: Training agreement

Hi Rigsy, employers are entitled to lock employees in for a certain period of time after completion of training. The reason is that employers do not want to spend money only for them to run off once they got what they want and want to get their money's worth out of them. Training costs agreements usually have in common a fixed period of time which reflects the amount of money invested in the employee. The amount to be repaid is on a sliding scale the longer the employee continues to work as they would be benefitng from you and usually, the fees won't apply if you are made redundant.

5 years might be considered too long and I am not aware of anything as long as that. It is common for agreements to be up to 2 years but I have noticed a couple for 3 years but this is reflected in the amount of money being invested. The employer would need to justify the 5 year period and personally unless your of senior management, I think it is too long and could be conisdered a penalty and unenforceable. There's also the argument that the length of period could be considered discriminatory if you are of the older generation and by the time you can leave this could prevent you from obtaining employment elsewhere.

If you want to negotiate there is no harm and you can only accept what you feel is comfortable and taking into consideration the opportunity being offered to you. You also have to bear in mind that fees for degrees have also increased threefold so there may be some justification for 5 years. If you really want some advice, ask them to justify the 5 years in writing so you can consider it then maybe get some free initial advice on whether this is reasonable and enforceable.

You can then base your decision on this.