working notice period

whizzkid_3

it seems like i will be working two weeks for nothing as they will deduct two weeks wages from the two i would have already worked. i think .....

zzzLazyDaisy

If you are required to give a month's notice but fail to do so, this would be breach of contract. However, the employer's only redress is to sue you for its actual losses arising out of the breach. So, for example, if they have to take on agency staff to cover the remaining two weeks of your notice, and let's say this costs twice as much as your wages would have cost, then they can sue you for the difference. But they are unlikely to do that. If you are a senior employee - say a project manager for a sensitive client and as a direct result of you failing to work your notice, they were to lose a lucrative contract, then they'd be more likely to sue.

But what the employer is not entitled to do is to penalise you for failing to work your full notice by deducting two weeks' wages from the wages you have already earned. That would be an unlawful deduction and you would be entitled to make a claim to an Employment Tribunal for repayment of the stopped wages.

However, what you should do is to try to negotiate an early release with your current employer so that you agree on the two weeks notice. It is also common for employers to insist on the employee taking any outstanding holidays as part of the notice period (although it is not clear to me whether you actually have 18 days outstanding at this time, or whether that is what you would be entitled to if you worked the full year, in which case you must pro-rata it down depending on when the company's holiday year starts)

whizzkid_3

thankyou

to be honest the company will have no losses as i was to move to another dept in two weeks anyway and they just need to find someone different .

my holiday entitlement for the year is 28 and with 18 left i believe i may be due about 4 days pay in lieu

cheers

reheat

whizzkid wrote: »

It appears that i will lose a days pay for every day of the months notice not worked.

That seems a bit mean but i guess there is not much i can do about it apart from working the full month

or is there ?

whizzkid wrote: »

it seems like i will be working two weeks for nothing as they will deduct two weeks wages from the two i would have already worked. i think .....

I think all they are saying is you will only get paid for the 2 weeks you work, rather than pay you for a month. i.e. They will reduce the contractual months notice pay in line with any days you don't actually work your notice. If that is so then they are being very fair to you ... they could have insisted you work the full month.

So your current employer only pays you for the work you actually do for them, after which your new employer starts paying you. Sounds good.