In this month’s highlights, our team summarises the latest developments in UK employment law and their implications for employers. Catch up on June’s highlights here.
In Geeks Ltd v Watts, the Court of Appeal (CoA) held that a training costs clawback provision in an employee’s contract of employment amounted to a restraint of trade because it impeded upon the employee’s ability to trade freely.
Background
The employee was employed by the employer as a trainee quality assurance engineer. Alongside his contract of employment, the employee signed a training contract stating that he would meet the costs of his training for the estimated value of 8,108. The amount would be offset on a pro-rated basis based on the duration of his employment with the employer. The training contract also stated that if the employee’s employment terminated before the training costs were fully repaid, then the balance would become repayable by the employee in instalments. The training contract further stated that nothing contained within it was intended to restrict the employee from pursuing alternative employment.
The employee resigned before any of the training costs debt was offset, to take up a role with another company. The employer sought to recover the training costs debt through County Court proceedings. The employee defended the claim on the grounds that the training clawback provision was an unlawful restraint of trade....
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