Notice Period enforceable?

I do not think the employer can hold you to 3 months in this situation. I would be tempted to say I am giving the statutory 1 week's notice and will leave after 1 week.

Usually, a notice period would be in the contract you sign before starting.

If a 3 month notice period was not in the contract you signed before starting, imposing a 3 month period on you now would be a change to your terms & conditions.

Employment law says that you have a "reasonable time" to object to changes to your T&Cs. If you raise no objections within a reasonable time, the change forms part of your employment contract. If you object, they do not.

Here, it is clearly reasonable for you to object to the 3 month period. The employer can't just impose whatever notice period it wants. I think you are free to resign giving a week's notice.

As clearly stated by ACAS, written particulars are not the same as an employment contract:
"the statement could be viewed as the employer's version of the agreement and as such it could be challenged at an employment tribunal if an employee considers it to be incorrect, incomplete or inaccurate."

You cannot be held to a 3 month notice period if you don't know your notice period before you handed your notice in. As has been explained before you are therefore on a statutory notice period. Forget about having meetings with your manager etc, you hand in your notice, you state (not ask) on your notice that your last day will be x. You work until x and then you leave the office. That's it. The company will never ever in a million years go after you for breach of notice because there is no breach and even if there was it is not quantifiable to the company to take you to a court to claim x in damages. They very worst they can do is say they cannot give you a reference, and that is easily dealt with by a 3 months traveling / study leave / built a house / insert any one a hundred different reasons here for having some time off work comes in. So just do it and move on, simples.

sportsarb wrote: »

Exodi wrote:

How you submitted a notice, without knowing your notice, is fascinating.

Nonsense.

When I resigned, I simply stated that I wanted to resign and would await their further contact regarding end date, I didn't need to know what the notice period was in order to do so.

Your presumption that OP needed to know is simply incorrect and probably being argumentative for the sake of it.

I'm sorry if my comment has upset you, and you have, by admission, done the same as the OP. I haven't personally submitted, or seen someone submit, a notice without a defined period in it, but I can appreciate it happens - it should also be appreciated that there are several reasons why it's not practical to do so (if we're being frank, that's one of the reasons this thread exists).

The logistics of lining up another job become vague if you are unaware of your notice when you resign - the question of notice will have been asked at interview so I can only assume a period has been made up. If the current employer stuck to their guns on notice (and I'm not just referring to the OP's situation here, I'm also referencing people that forget theirs), what if a new prospective employer withdrew their offer due to the prolonged period?

I'm glad it worked out for you though (even if it hasn't for the OP). I often lend family/friends money despite the consensus on these forums being that I should not (and for good reason). Whilst I have been fortunate I have not been stung (yet), I wouldn't start promoting the idea as I'm aware it's generally not a sensible thing to do. Likewise with your suggestion, whilst resigning without knowing your notice can be harmless, it certainly carries additional risks that people just don't need to take.

If you want to colour that to me being incorrect and argumentative, it's a free country.

The logistics of lining up another job become vague if you are unaware of your notice when you resign -

I agree with this. A very common interview question is 'how long is your notice period'. I imagine answering 'I don't know' would make you look a bit silly.

CoconutP wrote: »

Dont have another job to go to. I just hate this job so much I just want to quit

Hold on, why are you not lining up another job? You're essentially pushing to be unemployed faster?

You're aware that you are likely to be penalised on the entitlement to unemployment benefit if you leave a job voluntarily (as this would be classed).

There's a lot of useful information here: https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/work/leaving-a-job/resigning/deciding-whether-to-resign/

Citizens_Advice wrote:

your Universal Credit could stop for 3 months or longer if the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) says you didn’t have a good reason for resigning.

Personally, I'd be high-fiving your boss for the extra-long 3 month notice as it gives you ample time to get another job lined up??