Garden Leave and new job

wildheart83

Due to a nasty situation at work I have resigned and I'm now on garden leave for the remainder of my notice period. I have been told there is no expectation to be called into work, but to be available by phone for anything urgent.
However, I applied for a new job before Christmas and it's suddenly moving very very quickly and if I'm successful they want me to start sooner than the end of my notice period.
The new company isn't a competitor, can I ask that they terminate my contract with immediate effect. HR put me on garden leave because the situation was proving difficult for all parties, not just me.

bubblegum1985

No harm in asking, they are likely to agree as they are effectively paying you to sit at home.

I would ring up and then either hand deliver a letter or do a follow up email as they will want something from you that says 'I wish to resign with immediate effect due to my personal circumstances, I know I have to give 4 weeks notice however as I am on gardening leave I feel it will be better for everyone to cease my employment as of X date.'

wildheart83

Thank you! It doesn't help that HR aren't in the same country and my line manager is the problem.

If they say no, how do they force me to stay at home? I know I'm jumping the gun a wee bit since I won't know until later in the week if I'm successful but I just don't want to jeopardise this new opportunity

bubblegum1985

That's annoying! I would either call hr and if you can't get through call your line manager. I wouldn't say you have a new job incase they are vindictive and try and stop you but just say its for personal reasons.

I am not sure if your P45 has on it the date that you finished your last place and if there was a way to find out that way? And it could have tax implications.

Me personally if the old place said no would ring the new company and say 'I can't be released from my old contract but I am on holiday (white lie!) that week would they be ok about you starting?' I would just hate for them to find out in the future and that cloud their judgement of me as an employee. But that's just me!

wildheart83

The judgement bit is exactly what I'm worried about! I am telling no one about any new job/interview/possibilities until after my leave period is finished just in case, even close friends there.
I suppose it's very naive to have the approach of "well no one will know if I don't tell" but like I say, that's the naive approach.
At the worst case, I do the P46 route and just say I don't have a P45 if it has a later date on it, even if it means me paying more tax until the new tax year?

InsideInsurance

On the P46 you would need to mark the fact it is a secondary job as you will be receiving two incomes for a while.

Whilst on garden leave you are still a full employee of the company and so there is nothing to stop them cancelling the leave or making alternative arrangements. Its obviously up to you if you want to risk it or not.

I know with a former colleague they were put on garden leave, the employer got wind of them working for someone else (insurance is a fairly incestuous industry) and so they cancelled the garden leave and found another cubical within the office for him to sit in. He obviously had another job so didnt turn up and was sacked for gross miss conduct

getmore4less

The key is to protect your new job not the cuurent one.

You need to check the terms of both jobs to see if they have any clauses related to working for others.

If the new job has them you need to make sure you abide with those esecialy as you risk having to go back tothe old job if they call you in.

An option might be to try and get the current employer to terminate early either by PILON or mutual early termination or the use of holidays(not alot of use if none left/earnt).

Another option, but I would get proper legal advice before taking it, it to terminate the contract with the current employer early, you would be in breach of contract and the company could persue losses, but as you are on garden leave I think it would be harder for them to show that they had losses due to your absence.

This may be one that SarEl could have commented on but looks like she has gone on holiday or talked herself off the board again.

wildheart83

There is a maximum of 9 days of an overlap potentially. I will know more by tomorrow hopefully, but obviously the longer they take to make a decision the less of an overlap there is, not just for this job but for any job potentially.

HR have stated that despite the requirement of my contract to be available should the current company need me, they will not ask me to go in because they don't want there to be any more problems. They have only asked that I am available over the phone should they need me.
I don't understand the logic of holding me to the full notice period as garden leave as it seems to be problematic for all concerned.

Person_one

Surely your new job will understand that you'll have to work notice at your old job before you can start, that's standard isn't it?

Why can't you just tell them what date you're actually truly available from if they do offer you the job? Am I missing something here?

wildheart83

Because they've made it quite clear that availability is a key factor in deciding the right person, so the sooner I can start the better my chances are.
Yes in an ideal world the company would wait, but how often do you hear of companies wanting people to use holidays etc so that they're available sooner?

getmore4less

wildheart83 wrote: »

I don't understand the logic of holding me to the full notice period as garden leave as it seems to be problematic for all concerned.

Maybe they don't understand the options(I think you said they were not UK HR).

Remind them that they can just pay you off with PILON and outstanding holiday. or if they don't go for that that you can mutualy agree to shorter notice(without pay).