Previous employer threatening with legal action beacuase I didn't give written notice.

BGH92

Hello,

I foolishly didn't give my previous employer a written resignation letter and now they are threatening me with legal action.

So I told the MD in person that I found a new a job and I accepted the offer. I told him that I am happy to work my 1 weeks notice period, and even offered to work over the notice period to ease transition, if required. I should have put all this in writing, and I'm kicking myself about it. Especially since the employment contract states that I should hand in my notice in writing. Anyway, he accepted the situation and understood that I needed to do what's right for me. He asked me to go on garden leave with immediate effect. I shook hands with him and my colleagues and off I went, everything seemed amicable. I have now received an email from the company stating that they didn't receive my formal resignation letter and that they are considering legal action.


Ok, I understand that I am in breach of the contract terms, but I haven't cause any damages to the company by not following the formal protocol. What outcome do they expect to gain if they sue me?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

martinthebandit

Email them back asking them if they would like another copy of the 'lost' resignation letter.

I suspect it's just HR dotting the i and crossing the t.

Undervalued

BGH92 wrote: »

Hello,

I foolishly didn't give my previous employer a written resignation letter and now they are threatening me with legal action.

So I told the MD in person that I found a new a job and I accepted the offer. I told him that I am happy to work my 1 weeks notice period, and even offered to work over the notice period to ease transition, if required. I should have put all this in writing, and I'm kicking myself about it. Especially since the employment contract states that I should hand in my notice in writing. Anyway, he accepted the situation and understood that I needed to do what's right for me. He asked me to go on garden leave with immediate effect. I shook hands with him and my colleagues and off I went, everything seemed amicable. I have now received an email from the company stating that they didn't receive my formal resignation letter and that they are considering legal action.


Ok, I understand that I am in breach of the contract terms, but I haven't cause any damages to the company by not following the formal protocol. What outcome do they expect to gain if they sue me?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

If they can claim anything at all, which is doubtful in this case, then it could only be their actual losses which they have a duty to mitigate as much as possible. Generally that might be the extra cost of hiring some temporary help. However under certain circumstances it could be a great deal more if they could show that the employee's breach of contract had caused other unavoidable losses.

Legally verbal notice is just as valid as written (although obviously much harder to prove as this case shows). So all that is left is your contractual requirement to put notice in writing.

So it would come down to who, on the balance of probabilities, the judge believes. If he is persuaded that you did give verbal notice then I don't think they will get very far.

Most likely this is a try on and won't get to court but you never can tell.

JReacher1

As you went on one week gardening leave which I assume they paid you for if they do sue you then you could ask the question why you were put on gardening leave if they didn’t have your resignation?

I would also imagine with such a short notice period there is no real financial reason for them to sue you.

I would just ignore them

getmore4less

just write them a notice letter.

something like

"I am writing to confirm that as discussed with X on ddmmyyyy I gave my one weeks notice to terminate my contract.
I was put on garden leave till the termination date of ddmmyyy."

sangie595

I don't disagree with any of the advice so far, but just to add a cautionary note - it is exceedingly rare that a company sue an employee for breach of contract over notice. But it does happen. And it can happen to lower paid people, not just high flyers. Be aware it can. Then you know what risk toy are balancing.

To be honest, what fascinates me about all this is that we are talking about a week! Not exactly huge amounts of money involved. So why has the employer turned around and issued what is a frankly pointless threat over a miniscule amount of money - that doesn't sound very amicable!

getmore4less

What is the time line?

As the MD had put you on garden leave there can be no loss even if this was weeks ago as you would not have been working.

Brynsam

Sounds like you're making this up.