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Capability Process?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in Work & Study
I quit my job a month ago after I'd been with the company for 6 months. Today I've received a letter from them demanding repayment of £420 for training costs as I left within the first 12 months. In the letter it says repayment of the monies may be waived if I've been managed under the 'capability process'. Now I did get put on a performance 'plan' whilst I was there just before I left as I wasn't meeting my sales targets. They extended my probationary period because of this (they did this to all new employees). Basically the letter said I have 6 months to improve or they would terminate my employment. Sensibly (or so I thought, at that point I looked for new employment and decided to take my current job) I was just wondering if anyone knows whether being put on a performance plan comes under 'capability process'? I've tried googling the phrase, but not had any luck with finding a definition.
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In your original contract, did you have to undergo a probationary period? In most cases, a probationary period allows either the employer or the employee to terminate the employment at any time if it isn't working out for any reason. Unless, there is some sort of misconduct or disciplinary issue, it is usually understood to be a "no blame" arrangement. Thus, if the other lady left during her probation, it is possible that she would not have been required to pay for her training.
Your case sounds a bit spurious to me. What sort of training are we talking about? If your company were sponsoring you towards some sort of recognised transferable qualification (NVQ, specialist IT training, etc.) run by an outside agency, then they would probably be justified asking you to repay them. But, in my view, if your training was basic in-house health & safety, manual handling, equality & diversity, fire safety, and the like, then I think you could to tell them to "swivel", as Mist so eloquently put it.
I haven't spoken to anyone at the bank yet about this. I was thinking of going to CAB on Monday and asking them for some advice. The said my first point of contact if I have questions should be my manager, but I don't particularly want to talk to her, so I think I'll go directly to HR.
I could take her to court if I wanted to I guess as I know other former colleagues would back me up, but I'm trying to resolve this in the simplest fastest way to start with, so I'll speak to them and see what they have to say first.
If the course was run by a centralised training department, then there was probably some cost to your branch - hence the attempt to recoup. However, they've got a bit of a nerve as, presumably, this training was essential and mandatory. The problem seems to be that you chose to leave rather than waiting to fail your probation. But the letter you were sent does seem to imply that the bank may be willing to waive the costs under certain circumstances, so I would definitely talk to HR before the CAB.
In your dealings with HR, try not to demonise your ex-boss too much. By all means say something vague about personality differences but, unless you have documented proof of bullying incidents, I would avoid blaming her for your and others' leaving. You may be right about other people backing you up, but without concrete evidence, an employment tribunal (rather than a court) is unlikely to find in your favour. Of course, if you did document the incidents, you could, as others have said, still take action against her.