Terminating an employee contract before start date to start a new contract, what are my rights?

prowla

Typically a contract gives a start date and notice stipulations which apply after starting, but not before.

[Deleted User]

If you mean recruiter as in Recruitment agent, well they just can be prone to saying anything.

I had one insist the client will want you to work a week in a temp'ing role that I had only been in 4 days before I realised it wasn't a wise move and very anxious though I would later find out why - turned out the client said just go end of day, over ruling what the recruitment agent had just said. In the end I was grateful as I got to spend time with my pet before it died end of that week.

There is no notice in the first month, unless you have exclusively signed something different and contrary to this before stepping into the intended work place. 

Undervalued

Deleted User said:

If you mean recruiter as in Recruitment agent, well they just can be prone to saying anything.

I had one insist the client will want you to work a week in a temp'ing role that I had only been in 4 days before I realised it wasn't a wise move and very anxious though I would later find out why - turned out the client said just go end of day, over ruling what the recruitment agent had just said. In the end I was grateful as I got to spend time with my pet before it died end of that week.

There is no notice in the first month, unless you have exclusively signed something different and contrary to this before stepping into the intended work place. 

If you read the OP it says......

It says in my contract to give 4 weeks notice

Whether the OP has signed or not is irrelevant, he has agreed to the terms of the contract which he is now unilaterally wanting to break.

If it was the other way round and the firm, having agreed a contract, was telling him not to start I bet he'd be wanting to find out if he could hold them to a months pay!

oh_really

BrassicWoman said:

oh_really said:

Or walk in and ask for a union membership form.

Unions aren't as terrifying to employers as you think. Everywhere I have worked has the union along to induction to do sign ups. It makes negotiating terms MUCH easier. Sorry you're working in a retro environment.

I can't believe I'm having to say this; this was tongue-in-cheek, it was a joke!

As for my working environment, the type of job I have takes me into well developed conflict which by its nature is contentious with high expectations on outcomes, this has nothing to do with "retro". Some individuals come by this way shouting from the roof tops what they do, I don't.

Oh, I remember taking inductions in the '90's and sitting in on job interviews as well, certainly not what you appear to have perceived.

Manxman_in_exile

prowla said:

Typically a contract gives a start date and notice stipulations which apply after starting, but not before.  [my emphasis]

I did wonder about that. 

Most other posters here don't seem to agree though?  They seem to think the T&Cs become applicable from the moment the contract has been agreed - irrespective of the start date of employment?

Gavin83

If the employer is that funny about it just try and push the new job back a month, hand in your notice on the first day and work your notice period. In reality I can’t see any employer wanting to take this route.

TELLIT01

The agency will be unhappy because they will have lost their commission.  The prospective employer is very unlikely to try to take action against the OP.  The OP could have walked into the company on their first day and handed in their notice anyway.  This way the employer will know sooner.

Jillanddy

Manxman_in_exile said:

prowla said:

Typically a contract gives a start date and notice stipulations which apply after starting, but not before.  [my emphasis]

I did wonder about that. 

Most other posters here don't seem to agree though?  They seem to think the T&Cs become applicable from the moment the contract has been agreed - irrespective of the start date of employment?

A contract is a contract from the moment it is agreed, even verbally. It's just that verbal contracts are difficult to prove. There is no law that says you have to have started work for a contract to apply, and I know of one case where someone successfully sued an employer for breach of contract - in the small claims court - when the employer gave backword and the person couldn't get their old job back because they resigned and the employer had appointed someone new. It was three months notice and they'd been due to start a week later, so they got three months less a week, and costs. I'd be interested to see the evidence that a contract only applies after someone starts work, because that's never been my understanding and that's what our HR say too.

Undervalued

Manxman_in_exile said:

prowla said:

Typically a contract gives a start date and notice stipulations which apply after starting, but not before.  [my emphasis]

I did wonder about that. 

Most other posters here don't seem to agree though?  They seem to think the T&Cs become applicable from the moment the contract has been agreed - irrespective of the start date of employment?

Yes because the person has contracted to start working on that date and to give four weeks notice of his intention should he decide to leave the employment.

He has not said "OK I'll agree to these terms if I decide I can be bothered to start work when that day comes around"!

oh_really

OP, for the contract to be formed , there has to be an offer and acceptance, did you actually formally accept?