Notice period help

TBagpuss

If your contract says you have to give one week notice per year worked then you have to give 9 weeks notice.

If you don't, and leave early, it would be open to your employer to sue you - they would have to mitigate their losses (e.g. replace you as soon as they could but could claim back the extra costs your early departure caused.

e.g.
- the difference between what they would have paid you, and what they actually have to pay a locum or temp to cover your work for the extra 5 weeks
- any agency or other fees they pay to an agency to get a temp
- any other costs they incur as a direct result of the early departure. 

They can of course also reflect the fact that you breached the contract in any refence they give you. 

IF you have any holiday you are entitled to but haven't taken, you could ask that to come out of your notice period, and you can speak to your new employer, apologize and ask whether they can agree a later start date. 

Unfortunately this is something you really should have checked before you committed to an earlier date. 

NasaBeag

TBagpuss said:

If your contract says you have to give one week notice per year worked then you have to give 9 weeks notice.

If you don't, and leave early, it would be open to your employer to sue you - they would have to mitigate their losses (e.g. replace you as soon as they could but could claim back the extra costs your early departure caused.

e.g.
- the difference between what they would have paid you, and what they actually have to pay a locum or temp to cover your work for the extra 5 weeks
- any agency or other fees they pay to an agency to get a temp
- any other costs they incur as a direct result of the early departure. 

They can of course also reflect the fact that you breached the contract in any refence they give you. 

IF you have any holiday you are entitled to but haven't taken, you could ask that to come out of your notice period, and you can speak to your new employer, apologize and ask whether they can agree a later start date. 

Unfortunately this is something you really should have checked before you committed to an earlier date. 

Thank you, I completely agree, I should have checked.
But as all colleagues I have seen leave, and there are quite a few gave 4 weeks or less for their notice. So, wrongly I know, I assumed mine was the same.

Thank you all for your help it really is appreciated. 

You have answered the questions as I thought they might be and I will speak to people at the new workplace and see what I can work out.

Manxman_in_exile

You haven't answered the question about the precise wording of your contract where it deals with length of notice that you as an employee have to give your employer.  You may be wrong to assume 9 weeks.

What does it actually say - word for word?

squirrelchops2

Surely in the application form or if not at interview the amount of notice needed to be given would have been mentioned then? Hence new employer would have been aware of the situation?

Brie

squirrelchops2 said:

Surely in the application form or if not at interview the amount of notice needed to be given would have been mentioned then? Hence new employer would have been aware of the situation?

Not if the OP didn't give the correct info as he believed it was 4 weeks.

Sandtree

squirrelchops2 said:

Surely in the application form or if not at interview the amount of notice needed to be given would have been mentioned then? Hence new employer would have been aware of the situation?

NasaBeag said:

But as all colleagues I have seen leave, and there are quite a few gave 4 weeks or less for their notice. So, wrongly I know, I assumed mine was the same.

The OP has clearly given the new employer wrong information based on the above assumption... hopefully they didn't put attention to detail or accuracy etc as their core skills!