Leaving beyond contractual notice period

Jarvish_2

Hello,

I currently work for a company and am leaving to join a rival company in 5 weeks time - my notice period is 4 weeks.

I am almost certainly going to be granted gardening leave.

Should I hand in my notice now, or should I call in sick for the rest of the week and hand my notice in at the end of the week?

zzzLazyDaisy

I don't understand why you would want to call in sick? You are required to give 4 weeks notice but there is nothing wrong with giving more.

So you can either carry on working as normal and then give four weeks notice at the end of the week as required by your contract. Or you can give notice now that you intend to leave on [date], effectively giving almost 5 weeks notice.

It is the employer's choice whether it wishes to put you on garden leave.

Jarvish_2

Thanks for the reply

The reason I don't want to be there is not because I am a fan of Jeremy Kyle, but because of the nature of my role (sales) - I now have no motivation to continue to perform my current role, and no motivation to assist others with technical queries (which is often).

It really is the best for me and my current employer for me not to be there at the moment, but I don't want to be shafted in any way by giving a longer notice period than I am contracted to.

zzzLazyDaisy

Okay, I get that you have no motivation to carry on working for your employer now that you have found another job. But that does not give you the right to demand garden leave, and it does not give you a reason to go off sick.

You have an obligation under your contract to give four weeks notice. If your contract has provision for garden leave, your employer may invoke it. That is in the empoyer's discretion, they may move you to some other less customer facing role for the notice period.

If you are dead set against working your notice, you could always negotiate with your employer to leave with immediate effect, without working your notice. They may agree, but you would not get paid if this was at your request, and you may then have 5 weeks to cover before you start your new job. Although some employers terminate the employment immediately if the nature of the work is sensitive and make a payment in lieu of notice instead. But again, that is up to your employer.

Surprisingly, even though you can't be bothered to to work now that you have found another job this does not give you extra rights about working your notice (it might affect any reference your employer might give you though).

Sambucus_Nigra

Jarvish wrote: »

Thanks for the reply

The reason I don't want to be there is not because I am a fan of Jeremy Kyle, but because of the nature of my role (sales) - I now have no motivation to continue to perform my current role, and no motivation to assist others with technical queries (which is often).

It really is the best for me and my current employer for me not to be there at the moment, but I don't want to be shafted in any way by giving a longer notice period than I am contracted to.

If that's the case, call your manager or go see them and let them know that you are intending to hand your notice in on Friday. And see what reaction you get.

Jarvish_2

Thanks again for your reply

I am not demanding to go on gardening leave - but the likely outcome (99%) is that my current employer will put me on garden leave.

I suppose my question is (let's ignore the going off sick for the sake of this question!) if I gave 5 weeks notice today and my employer wants to put me on gardening leave, will they have to put me on 5 weeks gardening leave, or can they just enforce the 4 weeks as this is my contractual notice period?

zzzLazyDaisy

Jarvish wrote: »

if I gave 5 weeks notice today and my employer wants to put me on gardening leave, will they have to put me on 5 weeks gardening leave, or can they just enforce the 4 weeks as this is my contractual notice period?

They can choose to put you on garden leave for 5 weeks, with your consent, if they wish. But they don't have to do this.

Does this answer your question?

Edit - sorry just re-read your post. If you give 5 weeks notice and clearly state that you wish to leave on a specifed date, the employer cannot change this to 4 weeks notice and make you leave a week early. The 4 weeks notice in the contract is the minimum you are required to give, but you can still give 5 weeks notice if you wish, though equally the employer can insist that you work some or all of that notice period.

Sambucus_Nigra

Jarvish wrote: »

Thanks again for your reply

I am not demanding to go on gardening leave - but the likely outcome (99%) is that my current employer will put me on garden leave.

I suppose my question is (let's ignore the going off sick for the sake of this question!) if I gave 5 weeks notice today and my employer wants to put me on gardening leave, will they have to put me on 5 weeks gardening leave, or can they just enforce the 4 weeks as this is my contractual notice period?

If it was me I'd just hand my notice in today and take a week's break in between. And enjoy the spring.

If you handed your notice today in they could just enforce the 4 weeks, yes.

bevanuk

He won't do that. Lazy sod wants to be paid by his company but doesn't want to work. Make sure you don't post any specifics on here, I'll happily call the new company and let them know how work shy you are.

PoorCharleyBear

my old company used to stick people on gardening leave often. But dependent on their role, would give them alternative non- front line duties.

If everyone left as soon as they got a new job there would never be knowledge transfer and employers might as well state 1 days notice to be given.

give in your nice assume you need to work 4 weeks, and anything else is a bonus....

getmore4less

Sambucus_Nigra wrote: »

If it was me I'd just hand my notice in today and take a week's break in between. And enjoy the spring.

If you handed your notice today in they could just enforce the 4 weeks, yes.

How can they do that if you give longer notice?

That would be a dismisal and potentialy unfare counter notice.


Going off sick and then resigning is risky, the smart employer would invoke a rapid invesigation to look for a gross miscondunt dismisal.