Notice Periods

[Alex97]

I have a friend who is currently looking to leave her job. She's a bit worried about being able to find a new job as her current notice period is 3 months.

Her current role is entry level, she doesn't have her own work load per se and, to put it bluntly, she would be easily replaced. There is no real need for such a long notice period.

She was given a copy of her contract when she first joined, she read it and thought the notice period was high and was going to question it had she been asked to sign it. In my opinion (and hers it has to be said) the fact she never signed it does not really matter as by not questioning it and continuing to work there she had basically accepted it by her actions. At the time she was pretty desperate for a job unfortunately

The only angle on this I can think of is that the contract states that the employer only has to give her 1 months notice. Would she be able to give 1 months notice as a result? It seems unfair she has to give 3 months notice whereas her employer only has to give her 1 months, but she understands this is what she has agreed to.

Is she stuck with this one?

[Firefoot]

Employers are usually flexible on notice periods, certainly with easily replaceable entry level staff. She should have a chat once she finds a new role.

Sometimes you can offset holiday against some of the notice period, sometimes you can give a shorter notice period etc.

[DanL]

When she resigns, she'll have to haggle a shorter notice period (such as a month). If she's easily replaced I don't think that this would be a problem.

[fido]

On a similar note, can the employer pay you less than the notice period e.g. can they ask you to leave after 1 month when you actually want to sit out all 3 months?

[DanL]

fido said:

On a similar note, can the employer pay you less than the notice period e.g. can they ask you to leave after 1 month when you actually want to sit out all 3 months?

Having just gone through a redundancy process, I've become somewhat familiar with this! So far as I'm aware, it's down to what's in your contract. With three month's notice, if your contract was ended due to redundancy you'd expect to be paid for those three months, plus any redundancy money that you may be due. Failure to do this would see the company in breach of contract, and you'd have to reach for a lawyer or similar to make sure they paid what was owed.

However, a company may want to pay you in lieu of notice in which case you'd be asked to leave on a date earlier than the three months, but with three months pay.

[fido]

DanL said:

However, a company may want to pay you in lieu of notice in which case you'd be asked to leave on a date earlier than the three months, but with three months pay.

That's what i'm hoping for but in the situation of handing in my notice. Obviously i'm prepared to work the full notice if required.

[DanL]

fido said:

That's what i'm hoping for but in the situation of handing in my notice. Obviously i'm prepared to work the full notice if required.

Oh, I see - no, if you quit you'll only be paid for the time you've been employed there!

You may try to haggle a shorter notice period, but I wouldn't expect payment for three months and only to work one as they'd be doing you a favour by letting you go early.

I suppose if you resign and happen to be in a position where they don't want you in the office (reasonably common in sales roles, I understand) then they may offer to put you on "gardening leave", basically paying you to not be in the office. I'm not sure if you're allowed to work for someone else during a period of gardening leave, as technically you're still employed by the company. However, if you're in this situation and want to take a job earlier I can't see why the company would object to shortening the notice period by mutual consent.

[Alex97]

So as we suspected then, oh well. Unfortunately negotiation will not be possible as they have done the same to other people in her team. Turned them down for promotion and employed external candidates with 0 experience and less qualified, then try and bully them into staying when they find a better job elsewhere.

Thanks all.

[otherman]

So what happens if she just walks out? She'd be in breach of contract, but surely they'd just stop paying her and that would be that?

[defblade]

otherman said:

So what happens if she just walks out? She'd be in breach of contract, but surely they'd just stop paying her and that would be that?

In theory they could sue her for loses incurred by this action - eg replacing her at emergency temp rates. But they must also make every effort to minimise those loses. Upshot for someone who is not doing massively specialised work, especially if there are others in the team who could cover the workload while she's replaced, is.... not a lot is likely to happen. I suspect they'd play silly buggers about paying any more wages due though