Advice please! Working shorter notice

ikkin

Hoping for some advice please.

I have handed my notice in with current employer. My contracted notice period is 3 months, however I requested in my notice letter that this could be reduced so that I could meet my start date with my new employer.

So, timeline is such that my manager will have had 8 weeks notice (I told them verbally a week before) and formally I will have given 7 weeks notice. This will mean that new employer has waited 3 months in total, as it took a month to get through all checks and contract etc, when they actually wanted me straight away.

HR accepted notice but with no acknowledgement of my request to leave earlier. I have been open from the start about the date I needed to leave and my manager led me to believe that they would work with me to target this. Now they said they would like me to do the full 3 months. I'm due to start new job next week and I don't want to mess around my future employer, given that they have been patient in waiting for me this long.

Another manager (on same 3mth notice period) recently was allowed to leave after 5 weeks (and several others previously), so a precedence has been set - why should I fulfil notice when they have agreed lesser notice periods with others?

I feel like I've tried to be as fair as possible and do the best for both my current and new employer. Where do I stand and is there anything I need to consider? I realize this is technically breach of contract but all the research I have done to date says that any action is unlikely. I don't want things to end this way, but I feel like I now have no other option. I'm due to get paid a couple of days after I leave - could they stop my wages?

Any advice much appreciated!

Takeaway_Addict

You should honour your contract as you expect the employer to honour theres. if they didn't confirm the early leave then you shouldn't have presumed they accepted it.

Just because others leave early doesn't mean you can. You may not know all the reasons why, the business reasons to keep you maybe more etc.

Ultimately your research is correct, its unlikely they would do anything however its not unheard of to sue for breach of contract but they would have to mitigate their losses.

However, its likely you could kiss goodbye to your reference for the future.

EDIT: They could stop your wages but it would be illegal but if they wanted to cause you some grief they could string it out for a bit before paying you or ultimately you would have to goto tribunal

embob74

Not paying wages due is an illegal deduction but employers don't always realise this so you could end up with the hassle of chasing them for payment.
The employer can pursue you for any costs incurred OVER AND ABOVE that of your normal wages so if they have to pay an agency worker to cover the remaining notice period they could claim that back from you through the court.
Although unlikely this will happen it happened to me when I left a cleaning job!! The employer was determined to make me pay and it was pretty stressful having to prepare a court defence. They can pursue it for up to 6 years. If your job is essential to the company (hence the long notice period) then they could find other costs you may be liable for. Check your contract to see if it states what they can/may do.
If they don't pay your wages then you should put a complaint in writing citing unlawful deductions and if they don't pay you can do as Takeawy_Addict says and go to a tribunal or you could do it in the courts.
You need to weigh up the risks of not being paid on time and having to chase it, the threat of them being able to chase you for up to 6 years and the possibility of no reference over the chance of losing out on a job.