Let's forget the fact that it is Ryanair, which is a company that stirs the emotions. Let's just look at the facts. If I was running a company and I agreed to train up an engineer, pilot, or any other employee with a skill, and I was going to send that person on a course that would cost me money, but would upgrade the qualifiactions of that person, and most likely make him more valuable, I would probably ask that he or she did not leave for a period of X number of months or years, depending on the cost of the course.
Am I being unreasonable?
I can see an argument for saying that yes, I would be unreasonable in asking for that person to stay X number of months/years if there was never any possibility of that staffmember getting a pay increase in recognition of the qualification.But if the pay increased after the said X number of years/motnhs, in effect after I had receovered the cost of the course, surely that is perfectly fair and reasonable, and everyone gains?
On the face of it, the Tribunal got it wrong, from my point of view. The result of rulings like this will be that employers will always ask for staff to go on courses at their own expense, and the drive for improvement will founder. Not everyone has the drive to be a self-improver - lots of us need encouragement from our employers.