When does "notice" start?

Cross_Man

My wife has been temping for a company since August - she really likes it there and was hoping to go permanent, which the company spoke about at Christmas.

Anyway, that won't happen now as on Tuesday, when she arrived, she was told there is no more work and to go home.  Quite correctly, my wife pointed out that the contract says "one week notice from either side".  The company have said that will mean Monday is the last day as the notice includes the Tuesday when she was told.

However, the CAB website suggests it will be Tuesday that should be the last day:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/resigning/your-notice-period-when-resigning/#:~:text=Your notice period starts the,will be the next Monday.

"Your notice period starts the day after you resign. This means if you give a week’s notice on Monday your last day at work will be the next Monday."  That should work the same way whether it is the employee or the employer that gives notice.

The reason the company say there is no more work is that they introduced a new computer system which is to make things more efficient so they will need less staff.  My wife is, in part, hoping that once they realise the efficiency is not there and they still need staff that she might be asked back and / or they might ask her back if anyone else decides to leave from the team that she worked in.

So, two questions then:
1. Should the notice include being paid next Tuesday?
2. Is it worth the challenge, given the possible hope of a future role, if, but, maybe? 

It could be more pragmatic to just suffer the one day on the notice period, which is where my wife is minded at the moment.

TELLIT01

Notice period starts the day after it is given, so Tuesday will be the last day.  As you say, that needs to be weighed against the possibility of working there again in the future.

tacpot12

Your wife might try sharing the link to the Citizens Advice website with the manger or HR person who asserts that her notice starts on the day it is given. The company may not be aware that they have got it wrong, and may just correct the situation once they know what is correct. There may be no need to challege the decision, and I'm not sure I would for one days pay. 

Cross_Man

Thanks both - good confirmation that the rules are what we read on the CAB site.

It seems as though the manager is simply uninformed and HR have declined to take calls from my wife.  The manager initially said to just go home as soon as she arrived on Tuesday.  Then he said, well, OK, Friday.  Then, when shown the link, he said Monday and he considered that Tuesday this week counted because he told my wife as soon as she arrived which was before her working hours started so that working day is included.  

TBH, the manager has been a bit of a fool over it.  HR declined to take or return calls.

I'll confirm with my wife what the actual rules are - she can then take a decision about pushing for the one extra day against the potential impact of not being considered if future roles turn up at the same place and / or the temp agency not working to find my wife future placements.

The temp agency also tried to say it was nothing to do with them and they can only pay days that the Client pays even though, technically the employment contract is with the agency.

Temping makes things all rather more complicated.

At the end of the day, my wife has had a good few months in a job that she enjoyed doing.

General_Grant

Cross_Man said:

Thanks both - good confirmation that the rules are what we read on the CAB site.

It seems as though the manager is simply uninformed and HR have declined to take calls from my wife.  The manager initially said to just go home as soon as she arrived on Tuesday.  Then he said, well, OK, Friday.  Then, when shown the link, he said Monday and he considered that Tuesday this week counted because he told my wife as soon as she arrived which was before her working hours started so that working day is included.  

TBH, the manager has been a bit of a fool over it.  HR declined to take or return calls.

I'll confirm with my wife what the actual rules are - she can then take a decision about pushing for the one extra day against the potential impact of not being considered if future roles turn up at the same place and / or the temp agency not working to find my wife future placements.

The temp agency also tried to say it was nothing to do with them and they can only pay days that the Client pays even though, technically the employment contract is with the agency.

Temping makes things all rather more complicated.

At the end of the day, my wife has had a good few months in a job that she enjoyed doing.

"Technically" presumably means "factually" and your wife is not employed by the firm where she is working.
So it should be the agency which gives her notice
Also, though the notice period may be one week according to the "contract" - who are the parties to the contract?

Thrugelmir

The Company is not your wife's employer. All queries need to be rooted through the agency. 

Cross_Man

General_Grant said:

"Technically" presumably means "factually" and your wife is not employed by the firm where she is working.
So it should be the agency which gives her notice
Also, though the notice period may be one week according to the "contract" - who are the parties to the contract?

Thrugelmir said:

The Company is not your wife's employer. All queries need to be rooted through the agency. 

Yes, you are both obviously correct.

There is the company where my wife works
And then the national employment agency they use
And then the local agency 
And then my wife

So the contract is between the local agency and my wife and it is irrelevant whether the agreement on notice is passed up to the next people or not.

Actually, natural conversations have muddied the situation.  I did say to my wife she should have just come home when told to, and then sorted out the notice etc. 

What actually happened is she arrived on Tuesday morning and the local manager told her he had been told by the national agency to send her home and not required any longer.
My wife responded at the time that she had a week notice period.
The local manager then asked to see her contract and once he saw the week said something along the lines of "that's great, it will give me time to get this sorted out so you stay - we are far too busy to let you go"
Then, through the week, the company where my wife works refused to speak with her or respond to anything from the local manager.
The local agency just played dumb also, saying it was nothing to do with them.

My wife is really thinking to just let it go as for the sake of one day's pay she does not want to upset the end client or the local agency in case they potentially have future work for her.

She is just gutted because often with temp work you just do a few weeks boring tasks and that's that.  Here, there was a good culture and they'd really welcomed her as part of the team and she liked the work so with the talk of a permanent position, it was a bit of a shock to suddenly be told to leave right away.

Cross_Man

I thought I would update on this - the whole issue of the Monday or Tuesday became all rather moot as my wife and I both had a stomach bug and took the two days off work.  We think we must have had bad chicken for our Sunday roast the day before.  

Obviously, when you are agency, you don't get paid for sick days.  My wife ended up feeling bad that she had let down the company and not finished her last day with them.  

Can't be helped.

Thanks everyone for your advice on here.