Need help understanding a term in my contract regarding notice

harlow19

Hi

I was wondering if someone could help me understand something in my contract of employment..

My notice period is one month and I am paid an hourly rate. I am contracted for 40 hours per week.

My contract states: if you leave your employment with the Company without giving to the company proper notice, you shall forfeit to the Company renumeration equal to the amount of renumeration which would have been payable to you if sufficient notice had been given

My question is, if I leave after after giving one weeks notice, and have worked 80 hours since I last submitted my time sheet, would they effectively be able to pay me nothing as I would have forfeited 120 hours pay? Is it correct to say they would have to pay accrued holiday pay?

Is this allowed under employment law?

Thanks

getmore4less

harlow19 wrote: »

Hi

I was wondering if someone could help me understand something in my contract of employment..

My notice period is one month and I am paid an hourly rate. I am contracted for 40 hours per week.

My contract states: if you leave your employment with the Company without giving to the company proper notice, you shall forfeit to the Company renumeration equal to the amount of renumeration which would have been payable to you if sufficient notice had been given

My question is, if I leave after after giving one weeks notice, and have worked 80 hours since I last submitted my time sheet, would they effectively be able to pay me nothing as I would have forfeited 120 hours pay? Is it correct to say they would have to pay accrued holiday pay?

Is this allowed under employment law?

Thanks

If they mean by that you don't work you don't get paid for those days that is fine.

If they are trying to impose a penalty then that is not OK.

Keep it simple give your proper notice and try to negotiate an early end date if that is what you want.

Acrued unused holiday needs to be taken or paid, some contract have clauses to cover this, like all holiday must be used in the notice period.

JJG

getmore4less wrote: »

If they mean by that you don't work you don't get paid for those days that is fine.

If they are trying to impose a penalty then that is not OK.

Keep it simple give your proper notice and try to negotiate an early end date if that is what you want.

Acrued unused holiday needs to be taken or paid, some contract have clauses to cover this, like all holiday must be used in the notice period.

Although the employer is entitled to reclaim the costs of the employees breach of contract.

Takeaway_Addict

JJG wrote: »

Although the employer is entitled to reclaim the costs of the employees breach of contract.

But only through the proper channels, they are not allowed to simply deduct what they feel from the final wage.

KiKi

harlow19 wrote: »

Hi

My contract states: if you leave your employment with the Company without giving to the company proper notice, you shall forfeit to the Company renumeration equal to the amount of renumeration which would have been payable to you if sufficient notice had been given

Thanks

That sounds like they're saying: you're supposed to give 4 weeks' notice. If you give 1 week's notice, then you will owe us 3 weeks' pay.

I'm quite certain that's not a lawful term, but perhaps someone more legal can confirm.

What they are allowed to do is to sue for breach of contract for the cost of covering your role - in practice this rarely happens. But I'm quite sure they can't say that they will 'charge' you.

KiKi

Undervalued

KiKi wrote: »

That sounds like they're saying: you're supposed to give 4 weeks' notice. If you give 1 week's notice, then you will owe us 3 weeks' pay.

I'm quite certain that's not a lawful term, but perhaps someone more legal can confirm.

What they are allowed to do is to sue for breach of contract for the cost of covering your role - in practice this rarely happens. But I'm quite sure they can't say that they will 'charge' you.

KiKi

Yes, and I also feel that amounts to a penalty which would not be legally enforceable in itself.

However, as you say they could seek to recover any losses they actually suffer as a result of the breach of contract. They would have a duty to take all reasonable steps to minimise those losses but under certain circumstances it is possible the losses could be substantial and even exceed the laid down "penalty".

The real problem though is they can simply deduct the money from the final pay and any accrued holiday leaving the OP to initiate a claim and risk being counter sued.