Resignation - giving notice over Christmas break

comdw

I will shortly be resigning and though I have a contractual 3 months notice period I intend to leave at the end of the year.

My company closes the office between Christmas and New Year - normally it requires that we take these three days out of our holiday but this year they waiving this in lieu of a bonus.

I don't want to return to work in the New Year so my last working day will be 24th, however I do want to get a full month's pay for December, so I want to understand how to give notice properly to achieve this.

I assume I can only request a working day as my last day of employment and I tend to think that a Friday is the norm and with this in mind I thought I would state Friday 3rd of Jan as my last day but also ask that I can take Jan 2nd and 3rd as holiday (I actually have 5 days unused, I could alternatively state Wednesday 8th as last day?).

From my contract I understand that the company does not have to let me use holiday in lieu of notice (nor let me go before 3 months are up for that matter), but the one thing I want to be sure of is that they can't declare that my last day will be the 24th Dec as this would be shortening the notice beyond that which I will give.

Obviously I'm also hoping that they can't decide not to give me those three free days off at the end of the year just because I'm leaving, but even if this was the case I would still like to be paid for the bank holidays/weekends that are part of December...

Also if anyone has any tips on the wording of a resignation letter when you are trying to shorten a contractual notice period, I'd be obliged.

cte1111

From the CAB:
If you leave your job without giving proper notice, your employer may try to withhold part or all of the money owed to you. In general, employers are not legally entitled to withhold money owed, unless your employment contract allows for it.

http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/england/work_e/work_rights_at_work_e/basic_rights_at_work.htm

However, if you simply don't return to work, then I'm not sure why you think you should be paid for the bank holiday / extra days off given? Evidently there is a lot more to the story and you may well have good reason for wishing to leave, but at the minute it does look like you want your cake and eat it.

DCFC79

What about handing your notice in so the last day is in janruary, say friday the third.

comdw

DCFC79 wrote: »

What about handing your notice in so the last day is in janruary, say friday the third.

Yes that's my current plan as stated in the post, just wanted to check that they can't terminate my employment at an earlier date on realizing I don't really want to be there after the year end.

Thanks for the reference cte1111. There isn't much more to the story - I do have another job to go to and they'd like me to start ASAP in the New Year. However, it shouldn't be a problem if that's not till mid-January or even 3 months from now if I'm required to work the 3 months. Also I am planning to give the proper notice, I'm merely trying to negotiate an earlier leaving date but don't want to be left out of pocket by losing out on 1 week+ of pay just because its Christmas hols.

I thought the usual approach for resignation letter was to give the full notice required but also indicate any intentions to leave earlier/use holiday "if the company agrees"?

anamenottaken

Whether your employer can give you notice to leave at Christmas and not pay you for the bank holidays depends on whether they are required to give you less notice than you appear to need to give them.

They cannot give you less notice than they are contractually required to give just because you have put in your resignation. So what do your written particulars say about notice to be given by the employer? If it appears to be less than 3 months, remember that it still has to be at least one week for each completed year of service at the time they serve the notice. (Or the minimum notice is one week if you have worked for less than a year.)

When does your holiday year run from? From 1 January or 1 April or some other date? How much holiday are you entitled to in a full year? Is it described as X days plus bank holidays or Y days including bank holidays?

comdw

They have to give me 3 months too. (By the way does 3 months mean calendar months, so notice given on 25th November would be 26th Feb?)

Holiday year runs from 1 April and is 25 days plus bank holidays.

whitewing

If you are planning to give less than your contracted notice, then you may find that your current company threatens to sue the new company for something along the lines of inducing you to breach your contract, ie it may not just be you that has to accept the consequences. You may find yourself jobless. (I don't have legal training or anything, but think I have read something on here before). Take legal advice.

comdw

I'm not planning to give less than my contractual notice, but I do expect to be able to leave sooner by mutual agreement having experienced others on same contract leaving (usually within 6 weeks).

I don't think this is uncommon, the question was more related to the timing and whether I'll lose out on the pay I would normally get if e.g. leaving one job on a Friday and starting a new one on the following Monday.

Denning.

whitewing wrote: »

If you are planning to give less than your contracted notice, then you may find that your current company threatens to sue the new company for something along the lines of inducing you to breach your contract, ie it may not just be you that has to accept the consequences. You may find yourself jobless. (I don't have legal training or anything, but think I have read something on here before). Take legal advice.

Never.going.to.happen.

anamenottaken

comdw wrote: »

They have to give me 3 months too. (By the way does 3 months mean calendar months, so notice given on 25th November would be 26th Feb?)

Holiday year runs from 1 April and is 25 days plus bank holidays.

OK , so the date you leave is all down to negotiation. The law would simply be that they can't unilaterally shorten the notice period.

marybelle01

Denning. wrote: »

Never.going.to.happen.

Course it won't. Famous last words. You obviously haven't been around long enough to remember the last two people who said that here. Unfortunately for the posters, it did. Just because something doesn't happen very often, even when the law allows it to, does not mean it won't happen. So on what basis do you assert it won't when you can't promise that to anyone?