Notice period

[billyhoward1]

Hi Guys

A good friend of mine hasn't had the best time at the company he works for and has now finally decided to hand his notice in; and at the same time received a job offer which is a pretty fantastic opportunity - fantastic right?

The problem is that his current notice period is 3 months which is stated in the contract and it's adding to an already very stressful time for many work-related reasons; namely because one of the managers has been intentionally making his time at the company not very nice; the environment is also very strict almost like a school to the point at which leaving your desk for anything other than the toilet or going to lunch is not allowed and to in force this they have security cameras in the office.

I'm posting on his behalf because he's probably too stressed to-do so.

Is there anything that could be done to get out if this situation? Almost all of the 10+ interviews he has attended will not accept three months a period; people need developers and straight away.

What are the possible consequences of just leaving? Whilst the employer can't give a bad reference could they state he has been fired? Could they fire him after handing his notice period?

Anything that is viable would help such as being in that situation and making him stressed so much must be a health risk surely?

Thanks
Billy

[CaptainSlow]

Bow long has he worked there?

[billyhoward1]

Just over a year I believe.

[Kudos]

He could try asking can he leave sooner?

[billyhoward1]

He has asked that and they had initially said yes; however the management member I mentioned above has disagreed out of not liking him basically.

[Blue62]

How senior is his position? If he's only been there 12 months and is relatively junior I think he has a case to walk after 4 weeks and take his chances. If not he needs to sit down with HR (if they have a dept) to negotiate a release date based on the fact it's in no-ones interests to see out 3 months.

[billyhoward1]

Hey

I Agree but there are two issues with (should of probably mentioned) but the manager I mentioned is the HR Manager - He would walk out but the current issues they are very likely to sue for damages.

I'm not sure what they can sue him for as he'll happily handover the current projects to another member of staff (currently doing this and will take 3 weeks) so if he has handed everything over what damages could they pursue?

It seams they aren't really wanting to reason it seems silly to have someone work who won't be and full efficiency given how stressed he is but it's about the fact they just don't like him and this could potentially ruin he's career path.

Thanks again,
Billy

[arfur daley]

Just tell them im leaving next week. Balls to it.

[billyhoward1]

But what about the possible consequences? They could turn around and say fantastic can we have lots of moneys pls?

[marshalla]

billyhoward1 said:

But what about the possible consequences? They could turn around and say fantastic can we have lots of moneys pls?

For what ? Is he paid in advance ?

[billyhoward1]

Nope but it's possible (as far as i'm aware) for the company to claim damages based on not having the skills he has around.. some systems that he's finishing for example being half finished (although they wouldn't be finished within 3 months anything, and he is doing a handover that will take 3 weeks).

[anonymous-user]

marshalla said:

For what ? Is he paid in advance ?

Breach of contract.

Costs associated with replacing him beyond the salary they would have paid. Loss related to work they lost as a direct result of him leaving without notice.

not many employers will bother for junior staff though

[billyhoward1]

wsurfa said:

Breach of contract.

Costs associated with replacing him beyond the salary they would have paid. Loss related to work they lost as a direct result of him leaving without notice.

not many employers will bother for junior staff though

Indeed - Could that be disputed on the basis that he has done the handover & the project wouldn't of been completed in the existing notice period anyway?

Or anything that would get him out of that place really!

Cheers
Billy

[anonymous-user]

billyhoward1 said:

Indeed - Could that be disputed on the basis that he has done the handover & the project wouldn't of been completed in the existing notice period anyway?

Or anything that would get him out of that place really!

Cheers
Billy

If he gets them to agree in writing that the handover has been satisfactorily completed then they would (in reality) have no comeback. Most companies have a checklist for return of goods/id cards etc, perhaps this with a 'successful handover' check box added.

In 99% of the time companies will not bother, especially for jnr staff, as they wont get anywhere.

[barker22]

If he has only been there a year or so as you say, surely if they take him to court it is going to go down as an unfair contract clause. His notice period is 25% of his actual employment term. Seems highly unfair to me.

[davepoth]

Just out of interest, what's the notice period they have to give him?

[mondeoman]

Tell him to just sit there.

Do nothing. At all.

Do not even turn the PC on, just sit there for 8 hours then go home.

They'll get the message enough and he can then walk right into one of his better jobs and not look back.

A contract has to be reasonable for both sides, and TBH if someone working on business critical projects doesn't want to be there any longer, let the bugger go, it'll only ever backfire on the manager if they don't let him leave.

[zaphod42]

wsurfa said:

Breach of contract.

Costs associated with replacing him beyond the salary they would have paid. Loss related to work they lost as a direct result of him leaving without notice.

not many employers will bother for junior staff though

Can anyone point me to a case where this happened (of an employee, not a contractor or 3rd party).

I have never seen a company sue an employee for breach at this kind of level.

3 months = 6 weeks after negotiation in my experience.

[anonymous-user]

zaphod42 said:

Can anyone point me to a case where this happened (of an employee, not a contractor or 3rd party).

I have never seen a company sue an employee for breach at this kind of level.

3 months = 6 weeks after negotiation in my experience.

As I said previously, at this level very very unlikely, however the mere threat may have dissuaded in some cases. There was a recent case of an employer suing their nanny for breach of contract for leaving without notice, however the EAT overturned the damages claim based on

' it should have been the difference between the sums the employer had incurred as a result of the nanny's breach and the wages that would have been paid to the nanny had she worked her notice'.

The key points (at any level) are that for the employer any loss suffered must be offset against the fact that no salary will be paid to the employee during this notice period. Additionally they cannot automatically reclaim the costs of a temporary replacement, as they're expected to mitigate their loss by trying to reallocate their work between staff.

So, the summary, as before - The employer can sue, but due to the vanishingly small probability of them winning anything at this level, they are very very unlikely to.