Negotiating notice period

[BrettMRC]

If my contract states I have to work for XX months after resigning, but I wish to leave sooner than this - is there any legal come back if I stick to my guns and leave at my desired date?

My new employer wants me onsite ASAP and my contracted notice period has effectively stopped me from getting other roles in the past.

Thanks

[Cmof]

If they suffer any real loss as result of you breaching your contract, they could take legal action. In many years of employment law work, I've never seen it happen. Your reference might suffer a bit, as they would be entitled to say that you left of your own accord without working your notice....

[rog007]

Do as your title suggests; negotiate! But on both sides and try and meet somewhere in the middle. Good luck!

[Crippo]

I might be in this position also. However, I know that my employer will put me on gardening leave, so there could be no possible loss to them if I started working for another company. However, I do have a non competitive clause which prohibits me from working for another competitor company for 6 months, of which only the first 12 weeks would be paid. I would like to start work in 4 weeks, as I believe the position will not be kept open for me longer than this.
Where do I stand on this?....sorry to hijack but its related.

[WhereamI]

Crippo said:

I might be in this position also. However, I know that my employer will put me on gardening leave, so there could be no possible loss to them if I started working for another company. However, I do have a non competitive clause which prohibits me from working for another competitor company for 6 months, of which only the first 12 weeks would be paid. I would like to start work in 4 weeks, as I believe the position will not be kept open for me longer than this.
Where do I stand on this?....sorry to hijack but its related.

It depends on the wording of the clause, whether its reasonable and proportionate in terms of any loss they might suffer as a result of you working for someone else.

[BrettMRC]

Well, inspite of the promised negotiation I;ve received a letter stating that as per my contract I will be working my full notice period.

Given the company has breached its own contract with me consistenly over the last 6 months, I might just walk on my chosen date. However I presume that in most contracts a breach by one side does not negate the contract?

[davepoth]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

I am sure that you can convince them to boot you out before notice is fully worked.
Once they see your heart is not there, they won keep you too long.

It's not especially difficult. Assuming the new job is not conditional on a yet to be obtained reference from your current employer, I would begin by failing to do any work at all, and make it obvious. Feet on the desk, bring a book in, surf the web, all that kind of stuff. Don't forget to bad-mouth the bosses loudly to anyone who comes to see you.

[STW2010]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Indeed, I suggest you download / get a copy of :
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0151804/

Quality film, and extra points earned for watching whilst at work !

Why have I never heard of that?!? It sounds awesome

[Slurms]

BrettMRC said:

Well, inspite of the promised negotiation I;ve received a letter stating that as per my contract I will be working my full notice period.

Given the company has breached its own contract with me consistenly over the last 6 months, I might just walk on my chosen date. However I presume that in most contracts a breach by one side does not negate the contract?

I'm sure one of the PH legal bods will be along soon with all the facts but this is what i've been told in the past by our HR people.....

This kind of thing happens all the time, it's really not uncommon.

Practically an employer has very little redress - they aren't entitled under UK law to force you to work, even if failing to do so would be a breach of contract.

If the new company is a direct competitor they might be able to get an injuction to stop you working there but they have to prove that you doing so could cause significant commercial damage.

They could sue you for the additional costs arising from your breach but this is very rare - an example would be that they could sue you for the recruitment costs of finding your replacement but only if those costs are higher than they would be replacing you at the end of your notice period anyway.

So basically unless i've got it very wrong (and your should check as I may have) you can basically walk and unless they can prove in court that doing so caused them significant financial loss they can't do anything.

Though I wouldn't rush to ask for a reference.

[illmonkey]

Paddy_N_Murphy said:

Why walk?
As earlier, act like adults, they won't want you around if you are not 'on board' - you want them to be in a position to ask you to jog on, and take your PILON payment with you.

You say act like adults, but then advocate sitting at his desk doing nothing.

It take a lot of non work for someone to get booted out, and then it takes meetings and decisions, it won't be a quick way.

[RSoovy4]

Have a sensible discussion with your current employer, tell them you'll hand everything over properly and then you'd like to leave on [date].

They will most likely agree.

If you just walk it's unlikely they will do anything, other than bad mouth you.

[BrettMRC]

The underlying issue is that I am a single point of failure - one of the prime reasons for my discontent is that they have been promising additional staff resources for over a year and nothing has come of it.

There is no one to hand my work over to, they just want to keep me working until the last minute in order to finish off work on some big contracts that are coming to fruition.

What frustrates me is that this is not some tin pot organisation, it turns over billions.

[BrettMRC]

So... they are willing to go to court over the matter of me leaving before the end of my notice period.


The last person I caught stealing form the firm was paid off 3 months and given a reference...

Words fail me.

[randlemarcus]

BrettMRC said:

So... they are willing to go to court over the matter of me leaving before the end of my notice period.


The last person I caught stealing form the firm was paid off 3 months and given a reference...

Words fail me.

Easy solution then, is to nick the directors car

[Engineer1]

Go off work with Stress increased workload threat of leglal action etc can't help. You may not get to your new job quicker but you can teach your old place a bit of a lesson.