National Trust VR employee - retiring/resigning

GibbsRule_No3.

Does anyone here have knowledge of NT employment resignation times?
If you were a part time Visitor Reception employee how long would you think you would need to give when resigning?
I have a friend who is approaching retirement age next month, so she has decided to retire, obviously now to retire you have to resign. She has a yearly hours contract, usually spread over three days a week, she has done it for more than ten years.  They have told her she needs to give ten weeks notice, can this be correct? Granted I don’t work for the NT but have worked for my employer for 50 years and my position would only need four weeks notice.
So I wondered if anyone else had the same shock, she could understand a Managerial post needing that amount but VR is low on the ladder.  Conflicting information is being given.

wilfred30

I would be amazed if that was correct but what does her Contract say about notice?

General_Grant

GibbsRule_No3. said:

Does anyone here have knowledge of NT employment resignation times?
If you were a part time Visitor Reception employee how long would you think you would need to give when resigning?
I have a friend who is approaching retirement age next month, so she has decided to retire, obviously now to retire you have to resign. She has a yearly hours contract, usually spread over three days a week, she has done it for more than ten years.  They have told her she needs to give ten weeks notice, can this be correct? Granted I don’t work for the NT but have worked for my employer for 50 years and my position would only need four weeks notice.
So I wondered if anyone else had the same shock, she could understand a Managerial post needing that amount but VR is low on the ladder.  Conflicting information is being given.

Having completed between 10 and 11 years service, the NT would need to give her 10 weeks' notice.
Whether she has to give that same amount depends on her contract.  Information about notice periods should have been included in the written particulars of her employment given to her within a month of joining.  
If she doesn't have a copy then she should ask for one.

The statutory minimum she would need to give is one week but she may be contractually required to give more.

Given current circumstances related to Covid I'd be surprised if they would actually want to hold her to 10 weeks.

oh_really

I suspect wires have been crossed somewhere or the person asked was informationally challenged.

Her notice period is likely to be 1 week or 4 weeks.

GibbsRule_No3.

The problem is that after the furlough period NT had all of their employees reapply for their jobs, some were made redundant. No new contract was ever signed. Her two managers at the property told her it was 10 weeks and that as she had a lot of leave, that would be taken and the remaining hours could be made up in the 4 weeks she thought she needed to give if she wanted to leave after 4 weeks. She then spoke to a couple of other managers who work in different areas on the property to VR and a lady who used to do the manager job but moved to the retail side, they all say it should be 4 weeks in her VR position but when she called HR they told her that as she had done more than 10 years it was 10 weeks notice even at VR level.  She was going to call HR again to double check. I thought I’d ask here to see if any other NT VR long service people had the same experience.  Would the new contract, since furlough, negate the earlier years contract and what happens since she was never given the new one to sign, physical paper or electronic?  

Undervalued

oh_really said:

I suspect wires have been crossed somewhere or the person asked was informationally challenged.

Her notice period is likely to be 1 week or 4 weeks.

On what do you base that assumption?

Whilst there in no legal requirement for the notice periods to be equal either way, it is certainly not uncommon in these sort of organisations.

So I wouldn't be surprised if they did require her to give the same notice she would be legally entitled to get from them. In this case 10 weeks. Also as this is their busy time of the year, plus the time when many staff want to take holidays, I suspect they would be reluctant to waive it.

74jax

My notice was 3 months but very clearly written in my contract. 

General_Grant

GibbsRule_No3. said:

The problem is that after the furlough period NT had all of their employees reapply for their jobs, some were made redundant. (1)  No new contract was ever signed. Her two managers at the property told her it was 10 weeks and that as (2)  she had a lot of leave, that would be taken and the remaining hours could be made up in the 4 weeks she thought she needed to give if she wanted to leave after 4 weeks. She then spoke to a couple of other managers who work in different areas on the property to VR and a lady who used to do the manager job but moved to the retail side, they all say it should be 4 weeks in her VR position but when she called (3)  HR they told her that as she had done more than 10 years it was 10 weeks notice even at VR level.  She was going to call HR again to double check. I thought I’d ask here to see if any other NT VR long service people had the same experience.  (4) Would the new contract, since furlough, negate the earlier years contract and what happens since she was never given the new one to sign, physical paper or electronic?  

(1)  There doesn't need to be anything signed but information about notice periods does have to be in writing provided by the employer.  If they haven't provided anything to make changes in the last year then whatever was in existence as far as notice is concerned is still the case.  Was she provided with terms of employment when she had to reapply for her job?  

(2) Having holiday amounting to 6 weeks seems a great deal.  When does the holiday year begin?  Were they not required to take any holiday during furlough?

(3)  As I wrote in my earlier post, if she can't find her employment written particulars she should ask HR to provide a written copy - so she can read them not just have someone in HR tell her on the phone their interpretation.

(4)  New terms would replace earlier contract if they were supplied as part of the redundancy process through which she appears to have successfully travelled.

theoretica

Does she have a work pension?  Many pension schemes need loads of notice to get prepared to pay out.

GibbsRule_No3.

74jax said:

My notice was 3 months but very clearly written in my contract. 

Were you also VR and how long a service did you have?

GibbsRule_No3.

NT let them take the A/L over, hence the amount.  She will be leaving after the four weeks, even if it means them taking the A/L. Yes to a Pension but that will be taken as a lump sum, not paid into it for very long, when was auto enrolment introduced, from then?  She already had a Private Pension and of course now the State Pension will kick in during July.