No contract - can I just leave?

daisyboyd24

My colleague has come to me for advice and I really don't know the answer so hoping I might get some help here...

He has been working for the company since Sept last year and wants to leave today. He was issued a contract in March however never signed this as disagreed with one of the terms. The contract has never been re-issued.

Can he just leave today without giving notice or could he end up being taken to court?

Appreciate any advice!
Daisy

Stylehutz

daisyboyd24 wrote: »

My colleague has come to me for advice and I really don't know the answer so hoping I might get some help here...

He has been working for the company since Sept last year and wants to leave today. He was issued a contract in March however never signed this as disagreed with one of the terms. The contract has never been re-issued.

Can he just leave today without giving notice or could he end up being taken to court?

Appreciate any advice!
Daisy

Might be people better qualified on here to comment but yes i would leave today. From what you have stated employer doesnt have a Leg to stand on. Plus the question would they really want to take you to court? Money costs, Bad publicity for them etc.only issue might be getting a decent reference.

Guest101

No, he has continued to work there and so has agreed to the contract.

Manxman_in_exile

What has happened to make him want to leave immediately?

TELLIT01

Whatever the legalities of the contract, it's highly unlikely that his current employer would take any form of legal action if he just leaves now.

Undervalued

Stylehutz wrote: »

Might be people better qualified on here to comment but yes i would leave today. From what you have stated employer doesnt have a Leg to stand on. Plus the question would they really want to take you to court? Money costs, Bad publicity for them etc.only issue might be getting a decent reference.

Quite the opposite. The employer does "have a leg to stand on" and is entitled to the greater of a week's notice or whatever was specified in the unsigned contract. As has been stated, by continuing to work there the OP has agreed to the contract.

I do agree that they are unlikely to take the OP to court. Depending on the type of employer, quite a possibility is that they (unlawfully) withhold pay and in effect say "you sue us and we will sue you".

SouthernTeeze

Stylehutz wrote: »

Might be people better qualified on here to comment but yes i would leave today. From what you have stated employer doesnt have a Leg to stand on. Plus the question would they really want to take you to court? Money costs, Bad publicity for them etc.only issue might be getting a decent reference.

Oh dear yet another myth.

OP he didn't agree with his contract but yet he continued to work there. This means he has agreed to the terms it doesn't matter that the contract wasn't signed. So he should give notice as outlined in the terms.

Don't forget before you flounce an employer is not obliged to give you a reference and refusing to give a reference speaks volumes to a new employer.

Stylehutz

SouthernTeeze wrote: »

Oh dear yet another myth.

OP he didn't agree with his contract but yet he continued to work there. This means he has agreed to the terms it doesn't matter that the contract wasn't signed. So he should give notice as outlined in the terms.

Don't forget before you flounce an employer is not obliged to give you a reference and refusing to give a reference speaks volumes to a new employer.

As stated i said that there might be people better qualified to answer and stated my opinion mainly on the second part saying employer is unlikely to want to take you to court. Also stated that a reference might be an issue which at least we both agree with:cool:

sangie595

Stylehutz wrote: »

Might be people better qualified on here to comment but yes i would leave today. From what you have stated employer doesnt have a Leg to stand on. Plus the question would they really want to take you to court? Money costs, Bad publicity for them etc.only issue might be getting a decent reference.

Yes there are people better qualified to comment. Just about everyone else it would appear. The employer had all the legs to stand on; if they did go to court (rare but it happens) then the employee pays the court fees when they lose, which they will; and nobody really thinks that it's bad publicity for the employer - in fact it's great publicity because they won't ever get another employee leaving without notice!

I get fed up of saying this, but if employees expect employers to abide by contracts, then they need to recognise that they are also bound by the contract. If you are ok about the employer sacking you without notice, failing to pay you, etc., then by all means leave without giving notice. But if things like being paid or treated fairly matter to you, then buck up and accept that it cuts both ways. And there are lots of ways that an employer can get . you back- a bad reference is only one of them.

Stylehutz

sangie595 wrote: »

Yes there are people better qualified to comment. Just about everyone else it would appear. The employer had all the legs to stand on; if they did go to court (rare but it happens) then the employee pays the court fees when they lose, which they will; and nobody really thinks that it's bad publicity for the employer - in fact it's great publicity because they won't ever get another employee leaving without notice!

I get fed up of saying this, but if employees expect employers to abide by contracts, then they need to recognise that they are also bound by the contract. If you are ok about the employer sacking you without notice, failing to pay you, etc., then by all means leave without giving notice. But if things like being paid or treated fairly matter to you, then buck up and accept that it cuts both ways. And there are lots of ways that an employer can get . you back- a bad reference is only one of them.

We all appear to post on threads where people are better qualified to comment just like the disgraceful attacking of an aspergers sufferer on a recent thread As for good publicity for any employer being dragged through court, You are having a laugh:rotfl:

sangie595

Stylehutz wrote: »

We all appear to post on threads where people are better qualified to comment just like the disgraceful attacking of an aspergers sufferer on a recent thread As for good publicity for any employer being dragged through court, You are having a laugh:rotfl:

No I'm not. In general there is absolutely no publicity for experts who are in court. And if this happened it would be the employer going to court, not being dragged through it. But tell me - how many manufacturers and service outlets do you personally backlist because of their poor employment records? Give me a list of the top ten employers most commonly sued for unfair dismissal. How about a list (without googling it) of the last employers outed for paying below the minimum /living wage. Because you'd be lying if you said you could. People don't care. And because people don't care, it isn't even news. Not ten miles from where I am sitting there is a major employment tribunal venue... And not even I could tell you what cases they heard this week and who the employers were. And I actually do care!!! The fact is that if this person was sued for breach of contract, nobody here would know or care. Nobody in the local area would know the employer did it, or care either. But you can be certain that the company would make sure that every employee knew they'd done it, and that they'd do it again. Ergo, great publicity!

Besides which, I know you think that employees should be able to do what the hell they like with impunity, but actually, they shouldn't. Most people work their notice and they do so not out of great but because that is the honest thing to do. They were willing to enter into the contract and expect the employer to honor it. So they also expect to honor it themselves. You'd be surprised by the fact, perhaps, that most people have a sense of fair play and wouldn't bat an eyelid about an employer suing someone who was less honest and didn't.