Notice period question? What if you leave early?

whitegoods_engineer

Just after some advice. Put simply, an employer stipulates a one month notice period in the contract. Employee decides to leave early, what are the consequences for the employee ?

Surely wages up until the leaving date are payable, and presumably holiday pay accrued, so what's stopping an employee from leaving and going to his new job without giving the required notice?

whitegoods_engineer

Just clarifying, surely wages up until the time the employee actually walks out of the door and holiday pay accrued up until the early termination date are payable, so what, if any, are the sanctions or consequences applied to the employee?

bristol_pilot

The worst case scenario is that they could take on an agency person to cover the employee's role for the remaining notice period and sue the ex-employee for the cost of doing so. Or just deduct the cost from the final wages although this is technically not right. They could write in any future reference that the employee left without giving proper notice. They could also fire the employee for gross misconduct and write that in a future reference. The best option for an employee wanting to leave a contract early is to negotiate with the employer, employers are often OK about letting people go early if there is a proper handover to the replacement.

whitegoods_engineer

Many thanks for the swift reply.

bristol_pilot wrote: »

They could also fire the employee for gross misconduct and write that in a future reference.

Employee already walked out/resigned so can't be fired for gross misconduct presumably?

bristol_pilot

Simply not turning up for work one day = gross misconduct.

These are the worst case scenarios. If this is a basic min. wage type job in an industry with a high turnover, there's a good chance nothing will happen.

anamenottaken

bristol_pilot wrote: »

The worst case scenario is that they could take on an agency person to cover the employee's role for the remaining notice period and sue the ex-employee for the cost of doing so. Or just deduct the cost from the final wages although this is technically not right. They could write in any future reference that the employee left without giving proper notice. They could also fire the employee for gross misconduct and write that in a future reference. The best option for an employee wanting to leave a contract early is to negotiate with the employer, employers are often OK about letting people go early if there is a proper handover to the replacement.

The cost which could be sought from the former employee would be the difference between the agency charges and what would have been the cost of employing the departed employee for that part of their contractual notice period.

whitegoods_engineer

bristol_pilot wrote: »

Simply not turning up for work one day = gross misconduct.

Interesting, so that would still apply because the contract its still in force up until the agreed termination?

So in effect, an I right in thinking that AFTER an employee has walked out, he can still be dismissed? Seems odd to me but I can appreciate the concept.

bristol_pilot

anamenottaken wrote: »

The cost which could be sought from the former employee would be the difference between the agency charges and what would have been the cost of employing the departed employee for that part of their contractual notice period.

Indeed, that's what I meant by "the cost of doing so" - thanks for the clarification.

ValHaller

whitegoods_engineer wrote: »

Interesting, so that would still apply because the contract its still in force up until the agreed termination?

So in effect, an I right in thinking that AFTER an employee has walked out, he can still be dismissed? Seems odd to me but I can appreciate the concept.

Still entitled to due process - ie investigation, disciplinary hearing, appeal

gibson123

ValHaller wrote: »

Still entitled to due process - ie investigation, disciplinary hearing, appeal

Not necessarily - An employment contract in its simplest form is

You come to work - I pay you

You refuse to come to work you are in breach of contract which is Gross Misconduct which means you are sacked. It would be pretty cut and dried IMO.

paulineb_2

If someone has resigned from a job and has another one to go to I think it very unlikely that they would go through a process of disciplinary, for you cant discipline an ex employee. I would always try and work my notice period but in a lot of jobs a week or a fortnight suffices, no need for a month.

Whether they would try and withhold pay is another matter. Ive walked out of jobs before, in particular one job where I was being treated really badly and after one horrible supervision meeting where a manager was brought in to berate me and I was then ordered to sign minutes that werent accurate, I said to them, its obvious Im not for you and this job isnt for me and Im leaving and leave I did.

I then put in a sick line to cover me until I could sign on, in the end I had other work within a few weeks. And I was ill with the stress.

Sometimes its impossible to work your notice period. And they didnt try and discipline me, because I had resigned but I made it very clear I couldnt work another day there and they shouldnt have been surprised.

Dismissing someone if theyve already given a reference and the person has another job to go to after the person has resigned would be in my view a tad ridiculous, but do people honestly think after someone has resigned and walked out, they are going to stroll back into a disciplinary hearing?

Its always best to try and leave on good terms with employers but sometimes you cant. A lot will also depend on the reason why you need to resign early for example if your new boss is trying to get you to start sooner.

A lot of companies are happy with a weeks notice and no more.