Notice Period pay cut

migsey

Dear all

I am having a very stressful time at work and I would be grateful if someone out there could tell me what do do as I am not a law person and know very little about it.
I just recently resigned from my job after 11 continuous years. My contract says that I must give one week's notice per each year of employment which I did. In my resignation letter I also mention that 11 weeks is a long period to keep me in and I ask them to let me know when will my last day of employment be.
Employer responds that I can go after two weeks. I was quite happy with this until I found that they are cutting the notice period pay. I didn't agree to any cuts nor have I signed any document.
Employer says that I "manifested the wish to leave early and that was good enough to waive the notice period pay".
I was not informed of any of this.
Can the employer do this?
I contacted ACAS who told me that ALL that matters is what is stated in the contract and if the contract says one week per year of employment, that is what they have to honour regardless of what I may or may not have asked. Failing to do so is a breach of contract.
Can anyone tell me what can I do?
Thanks in advance

Best
M

System

my notice is 1 month and my contract states if i work less than that then they will use my holiday entitlment [sp] to cover the unworked notice and i would be paid whats left .as far as i know that pretty much standard practice.if your argument is that they have breached your contract then surley you have also by not working the 11 weeks notice.

migsey

Dear Chrissyg

thanks for your reply

I made myself available to work the notice period. I was actually counting on that. Since it is the quietest time of the year for the business I only mentioned that they could be generous and let me go early.
What they say is that my "wish to leave early" is a waiver of the full notice period pay and this is what i am fighting.

Zazen999

Are you getting paid for the days you will actually work; or are you expecting the pay for the 11 weeks but to only work 2?

terra_ferma

Zazen999 wrote: »

Are you getting paid for the days you will actually work; or are you expecting the pay for the 11 weeks but to only work 2?

Same question here.
If they are not paying you for the two weeks it would probably be an unlawful deduction of wages.
There is a clear explanation here:
http://www.hodgehalsall.co.uk/node/66

However if you expect to be paid the extra 9 weeks, forget it.
In some cases, people in key positions are offered gardening leave (paid for not working during their notice period). For example a business manager who would gain access to information useful in their new job, such as taking part in preparing bids for new contracts when the other company is also bidding.
But this is rare.

Evilm

As long as they are paying your normal salary rate for the two weeks then they are correct.

You won't get paid for the full 11 weeks - only the time you work.

If they are putting you on a different rate - say half your usual salary rate - for those two weeks then this is different and they are in the wrong.

Premier_2

migsey wrote: »

...I made myself available to work the notice period. I was actually counting on that. Since it is the quietest time of the year for the business I only mentioned that they could be generous and let me go early...

They were and they did, presumably not just of your request but also because they realised themselves how much stress the job was putting you under.

For that reason they appear to have been generous and agreed to reduce your notice period from 11 weeks to just 2 ... but to expect them to pay you for not working the other 9 is being a bit too optimistic, I think.

If you were counting on working the full 11 weeks, you should not have requested to leave earlier.

In some cases, an employer will ask an employee to leave immediately they declare their resignation. Only in those cases can the employee expect pay in lieu of the notice period but that is not the norm for many jobs; it is done usually when the company believes their is a greater risk of losing even more money than the notice pay by the employee remaining on the premises or in their role e.g. by removing any commercially sensitive information or in case their is a risk of the employee saying or doing things likey to have an adverse affect on the company.

This situation clearly doesn't apply to you as they have said they want you to stay for at least 2 weeks before leaving. They consider that to be the negotiated and generous offer based on your written desire not to work the full contractual notice period you would otherwise be expected to.