united-kingdom employment
Cost of reallocation on changing employer
<p>An employee joined a job 2 years ago. Initially, the employer paid him for re-allocation fees as stated in the contract. The contract also states that</p>
<p>&quot;Under our relocation policy, leavers with less than three years of service are required to pay back a proportion of their claimed relocation expenses, at a rate that decreases by 1/36 for every month of completed service.&quot;</p>
<p>However, after a year, the employee had an issue with his employer and the employer decided to change his position. Therefore, they decided to terminate the older contract and started a new contract with a continuous date and the probation period is reseted on the new contract. After a year from this, (i.e. after 2 years from initial start) the employee found another job and decided to leave the job. Therefore, the employer made the employee pay for the reallocation fees.</p>
<p>Is this legitimate as the employee signed a new contract where there is no compensation and the probation period was reset? All of this is under UK employment law.</p>

<h2>Do you have a new contract?</h2>
<p>If so, the original contract ended (at your request) after 1 year meaning you owe 24/36ths.</p>
<h2>Do you have a variation to the original contract?</h2>
<p>This is much more likely.</p>
<p>If so, it ended after 2 years (at your request) meaning you owe 12/36ths.</p>
