leaving without working notice period

omega1987

Hello,

I'm considering quitting my job as a maintenance worker at a primary school following an altercation with the head teacher who as far as I'm concerned is invading my privacy by frequently viewing my social media and failing to line manage me.

I received an overpayment in early 2012 which I informed the school about and spent months trying to resolve (I still have the emails to prove this) but in the end the school just said they'd claim it back when I leave. I also received training back in February this year which I'm assuming they'll want to deduct from my final wage.

I would like to work my one month notice period however my concerns are that I won't receive any payment for this period once training fees and the overpayment have been deducted and I cannot afford to miss a months wages.

If I was offered another job and left my current one without notice just to continue receiving a monthly wage could I be sued?

Would I be able to work my notice period and be able to repay any outstanding training fees and the overpayment in installments that won't leave me in financial difficulty after I've left?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

YouAsked

omega1987 wrote: »

Hello,

I'm considering quitting my job as a maintenance worker at a primary school following an altercation with the head teacher who as far as I'm concerned is invading my privacy by frequently viewing my social media and failing to line manage me.

I received an overpayment in early 2012 which I informed the school about and spent months trying to resolve (I still have the emails to prove this) but in the end the school just said they'd claim it back when I leave. I also received training back in February this year which I'm assuming they'll want to deduct from my final wage.

I would like to work my one month notice period however my concerns are that I won't receive any payment for this period once training fees and the overpayment have been deducted and I cannot afford to miss a months wages.

If I was offered another job and left my current one without notice just to continue receiving a monthly wage could I be sued?

Would I be able to work my notice period and be able to repay any outstanding training fees and the overpayment in installments that won't leave me in financial difficulty after I've left?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

Social media - you need to ensure all you accounts are on private and you've blocked headteacher where you can. If you don't want to do this then you need to ensure that your postings are as innocuous as possible. Even on private settings you don't have a leg to stand on if you're posting anything "dodgy" - once you post it, you don't "own" it anymore and anyone can print off/screenshot and distribute what you've posted.

Overpayment - You've had four years to put money aside to repay this overpayment. From the sound of things, your relationship with the headteacher has broken down - I suspect they'd be happy to just draw a line under things and wave you goodbye with minimum fuss and not bother dedicating time/money to recovering what you owe (I'm assuming it's quite a small amount if it can be covered from one salary payment). However, some people are very dogmatic and you *might* come up against someone who - for matters of principle (or spite!) - is committed to recovering this money - you're the best judge of whether that is likely. While you may get away with paying what you owe, I wouldn't count on a reference - or at least a good one!

There's some good advice on you.gov regarding deductions from salary - google and it'll take you directly there.

Guest101

omega1987 wrote: »

Hello,

I'm considering quitting my job as a maintenance worker at a primary school following an altercation with the head teacher who as far as I'm concerned is invading my privacy by frequently viewing my social media and failing to line manage me. - Right, how is your head teacher invading your 'privacy' if you post thing available publically. Don't be absurd.

I received an overpayment in early 2012 which I informed the school about and spent months trying to resolve (I still have the emails to prove this) but in the end the school just said they'd claim it back when I leave. I also received training back in February this year which I'm assuming they'll want to deduct from my final wage. - Well you can assume, but what does your contract say?

I would like to work my one month notice period however my concerns are that I won't receive any payment for this period once training fees and the overpayment have been deducted and I cannot afford to miss a months wages.

If I was offered another job and left my current one without notice just to continue receiving a monthly wage could I be sued? - Ofcourse. You might not lose, but anyone can sue anyone else.

Would I be able to work my notice period and be able to repay any outstanding training fees and the overpayment in installments that won't leave me in financial difficulty after I've left? - What is the policy on this?

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

It seems that you are most likely not going to win this.


Given there was an overpayment, presumably you kept this to one side as a rainy day fund?

omega1987

Thank you.

I should have put the money aside but a combination of frozen pay and recently getting married have depleted my savings somewhat. My predecessor was in the job for 30 odd years and I was originally planning a similar stint but the head seems to have a talent for driving people away as I'm one of the few members of staff left from before his appointment only a couple of years back.

As far as social media goes, I didn't post anything inappropriate and I asked the head what specifically was wrong with my post. He couldn't give me an answer and I've not received any training on personal use of social media nor was I shown the schools online policy so think this was nothing more than an excuse to harass me. I would be happy for a potential future employer to see my profile.

Guest101

So raise a grievance.


You've been there a while, you have employment rights.


(though it's part of your responsibility to be appraised with policies, as long as they are accessible)

Lily-Rose_3

Have to ask (as someone did above) how can he see what you're putting on social media? You can put everything you have on facebook for friends only to see, and as for twitter, you can make your tweets private, so no-one can see them except your followers.

Chances are the won't stand for you just jacking it in with a day's notice, and will take action.

Giving up your job because 'your boss looks at your facebook' seems like an odd reason to jack in your job!

omega1987

Lily-Rose wrote: »

Have to ask (as someone did above) how can he see what you're putting on social media? You can put everything you have on facebook for friends only to see, and as for twitter, you can make your tweets private, so no-one can see them except your followers.

Chances are the won't stand for you just jacking it in with a day's notice, and will take action.

Giving up your job because 'your boss looks at your facebook' seems like an odd reason to jack in your job!

I would be leaving more on my principles than anything. My employer may be legally allowed to check my public posts but the fact that they're obviously spending more time doing this than actually fulfilling their managerial responsibilities isn't acceptable to me especially as I do far more for the school than I actually get paid for.

Once the goodwill's gone do am I.

spadoosh

omega1987 wrote: »

Hello,

I'm considering quitting my job as a maintenance worker at a primary school following an altercation with the head teacher who as far as I'm concerned is invading my privacy by frequently viewing my social media and failing to line manage me.

I received an overpayment in early 2012 which I informed the school about and spent months trying to resolve (I still have the emails to prove this) but in the end the school just said they'd claim it back when I leave. I also received training back in February this year which I'm assuming they'll want to deduct from my final wage.

I would like to work my one month notice period however my concerns are that I won't receive any payment for this period once training fees and the overpayment have been deducted and I cannot afford to miss a months wages.

If I was offered another job and left my current one without notice just to continue receiving a monthly wage could I be sued? Yes

Would I be able to work my notice period and be able to repay any outstanding training fees and the overpayment in installments that won't leave me in financial difficulty after I've left? at the discretion of the person wanting the money

Any advice would be much appreciated, thank you.

A company is allowed to recover some of the costs incurred, this will include the 'loan' (overpayment) and might include training (heck your contract).

The only way you can know for sure is to either ask or to leave and see what happens. Some thigns to consider:

Leaving without notice is going to annoy people, chances are theyll be more inclined invoke karma.

If you do leave without notice as to avoid the repayments take note of cut off dates most places work with a few weeks lee way. Which could mean they would be deducting something anyway.

Think about holidays. Any received but not accrued will be deducted.

Id be impressed if they have got all the admin for the deduction and that it will be remembered (particularly if there is new staff doing the payroll)



I can imagine they come down on facebook pretty hard at schools. Clearly something has drawn their attention to your social media which they either dontlike or believe could be interpreted by a parent in a bad manner. Irrespective of rights and wrongs, it would be wise to curb your usage and closely filter what you put especially as it appears you will be checked regularly. Unsure as to how you use social media but ive never been questioned on my sharing photos of family and or my landscape/wildlife photos, if you express opinion be prepared to be judged.

Undervalued

omega1987 wrote: »

Thank you.

I should have put the money aside but a combination of frozen pay and recently getting married have depleted my savings somewhat. My predecessor was in the job for 30 odd years and I was originally planning a similar stint but the head seems to have a talent for driving people away as I'm one of the few members of staff left from before his appointment only a couple of years back.

As far as social media goes, I didn't post anything inappropriate and I asked the head what specifically was wrong with my post. He couldn't give me an answer and I've not received any training on personal use of social media nor was I shown the schools online policy so think this was nothing more than an excuse to harass me. I would be happy for a potential future employer to see my profile.

But the head is not "invading your privacy" as you claimed earlier. You chose to post something on a public site so you can't complain about anybody viewing it. If you had set appropriate privacy settings and the head had somehow "hacked" past them you might have had a complaint.

You don't need to be specifically "shown" the school's online policy. You work there, it is up to you to read the rules and abide by them.

The head may or may not have a management style that "drives people away". However unless he is doing anything unlawful or contrary to the policies of whoever governs the school then there is little or nothing you can do about it.

Training costs can only lawful be recovered if there is a specific agreement in place. Even then the amount must be reasonable and proportionate. A general policy is not sufficient in this case.

99.9% of the time any overpayment, regardless of who's fault it was, can lawfully be recovered. They can make deductions from your final pay for this, all the way down to zero if necessary, and send you a bill for anything still owing!

If you leave without giving proper notice then they could, in theory, sue you for any unavoidable losses this causes them. It is unusual but it can and does happen.

omega1987

Undervalued wrote: »

But the head is not "invading your privacy" as you claimed earlier. You chose to post something on a public site so you can't complain about anybody viewing it. If you had set appropriate privacy settings and the head had somehow "hacked" past them you might have had a complaint.

You don't need to be specifically "shown" the school's online policy. You work there, it is up to you to read the rules and abide by them.

The head may or may not have a management style that "drives people away". However unless he is doing anything unlawful or contrary to the policies of whoever governs the school then there is little or nothing you can do about it.

Training costs can only lawful be recovered if there is a specific agreement in place. Even then the amount must be reasonable and proportionate. A general policy is not sufficient in this case.

99.9% of the time any overpayment, regardless of who's fault it was, can lawfully be recovered. They can make deductions from your final pay for this, all the way down to zero if necessary, and send you a bill for anything still owing!

If you leave without giving proper notice then they could, in theory, sue you for any unavoidable losses this causes them. It is unusual but it can and does happen.

I rarely use social media and the fact that I was called into his office the day after I posted something suggests to me that it's being checked daily. The school may be allowed to do it but I consider that an invasion of privacy. It is my choice to leave somewhere I don't like and the only looser would be the school who will have lost an excellent maintenance engineer, I can literally walk out of this job and into another that pays at least as well. If the school can find someone who'll tolerate the organisation then everyone's a winner.

Undervalued

omega1987 wrote: »

I rarely use social media and the fact that I was called into his office the day after I posted something suggests to me that it's being checked daily. The school may be allowed to do it but I consider that an invasion of privacy. It is my choice to leave somewhere I don't like and the only looser would be the school who will have lost an excellent maintenance engineer, I can literally walk out of this job and into another that pays at least as well. If the school can find someone who'll tolerate the organisation then everyone's a winner.

Well do so then! If you can easily find another job that you would prefer on similar money then it would be silly not to.

I would however strongly suggest you give the proper notice. By all means ASK them if they will agree to less but walking out, even if you don't get sued, has a habit of coming back to bite you.

And yes, the school is allowed to look at anything you post in the public domain regardless of whether you consider it a breach of privacy or not!