Notice Period - How Long Do You Have to Give?

[Deleted User]

Hi all,

Asking this question on behalf of my son.

First a bit of background. My son has worked in the same Microbiology test laboratory for 10 years, however, the lab has been owned by three different companies in that time. The current company that owns the lab took over less than a year ago. Of all the lab technicians and senior lab technicians that work there he is by far the most experienced. He has applied for Laboratory Supervisors/Leader roles based at the same lab on several occasions and has been overlooked in favour of technicians junior to him on every occasion. He has now had enough and wants to leave.

Given that he has only worked for the current company for less than a year, How much notice does he have to give them before he leaves?

When the current company took over, all the staff were told that the terms of their contracts of employment were unchanged. Will this have an effect on the notice period he has to give?

Many thanks for any advice you can give

JPW

nicechap

The notice period will be listed in the terms & conditions of his contract. What does it say?

TBagpuss

The fact that the lab has been owned by different companies is irrelevant - his employment has been continuous so he's been employed 10 years.

Normally, his notice period would be in his contract so he needs to check that. If the contract doesn't set out a notice period then the statutory notice period would apply.
However, it would be fairly unusual not to have a notice period set out in the contract.

Undervalued

TBagpuss wrote: »

The fact that the lab has been owned by different companies is irrelevant - his employment has been continuous so he's been employed 10 years.

Normally, his notice period would be in his contract so he needs to check that. If the contract doesn't set out a notice period then the statutory notice period would apply.
However, it would be fairly unusual not to have a notice period set out in the contract.

Indeed. The statutory period for an employee giving notice is only one week regardless of length of service. It is different from when the employer is giving notice when it would be one week for each year of service up to a maximum of twelve.

nicechap

I'm guessing that working in microbiology is a specialised area with a small pool of talent from which to recruit from, in which case notice of 3 or even 6 months would not be unusual. There may well be clauses about wirkibg for competitors due having access to intellectual property.

Only the contract will be able to answer the OPs question.

[Deleted User]

An employer can’t refuse to accept someone’s resignation and they must follow certain procedures.
When a member of staff resigns you must

get them to confirm their resignation in writing
tell them what their notice period is
agree when their last day at work will be
confirm whether they should work all or part of their notice period[/B][/B]

Link to prove above
https://www.gov.uk/handling-staff-resignations

In a situation where the above was used, trying to break a fixed term contract that's only 10 weeks in, (so you would think easy? wrong!) when I handed in my notice, my supervisor kind of very much in line with the actual above, said thanks for the letter, I can't confirm what notice you need work and need to put this in HR's hands, despite a clear contract setting out notice periods which were the statutory notice periods! I cannot believe I'm in the situation of needing to potentially argue to get out of a job that was always had an end date. Really flummoxed I can only imagine it's because it is not your standard office hours job.

It is always the last places you expect to have problems, that you do so.

From my experience and I've now learnt, always inflate notice periods wherever possible to any new employer, save yourself some misery.

steampowered

Required notice is 1 week, unless a longer period is stated in the contract.

Your son should probably ask HR (or check the company intranet or employee handbook) if he is unsure. He may have got a few different contracts over the years - the latest one will apply.

polgara

As an aside he may want to ask for some detailed feedback on his interview to try and pinpoint why he is not being successful - this will be invaluable if he is looking for alternative work

ohreally

Don’t go anywhere near HR, it’s up to the employer to make employees aware of terms of service, if they have failed then the situation falls to statutory minimum.

Don’t put an exit on HR’s radar.

bugslet

He must have a contract somewhere, that is what he needs. If he has lost that contract, then what does he do?

Presuming the original employer issued a contract that said x months and subsequent communication form the new companies has said that the terms have stayed the same, then he is going to have to find out from someone. Is there a rule of thumb somewhere in his industry?

Secondly, he hasn't been overlooked, his boss - rightly or wrongly - does not think he is up to the promotion.

[Deleted User]

TBagpuss wrote: »

The fact that the lab has been owned by different companies is irrelevant - his employment has been continuous so he's been employed 10 years.

Normally, his notice period would be in his contract so he needs to check that. If the contract doesn't set out a notice period then the statutory notice period would apply.
However, it would be fairly unusual not to have a notice period set out in the contract.

Thats pretty much what I thought and have told my son to dig out his contract and check.