Leaving before notice period finish

konradw · 18 June 2019 at 2:42PM

Good afternoon,

I have been working in NHS for last 4 months, and I am still on my probation period which is 6 months (no performance reviews been for the time being). Meantime I found another job so I handed notice to my line manager. I have to addmitt I haven't signed contract, as it has neen sent via email about 2 weeks after I've started my employment. Standard NHS contract states that on the probation the notice period is 1 week, however my contract doesn't mention that.

This is what my contract say:

You are required to give three calendar months notice of termination of your contract of employment
in writing to your line manager.
Except for cases of gross misconduct where you can be summarily dismissed in accordance with the
Trust’s Disciplinary Policy and Procedure. You are entitled to receive a minimum of one month, or the
amount detailed in the table below (whichever is greater), notice of termination of your contract of
employment:"

This is the email I have recieved from HR:

I have checked his contract which states he has a three month notice period. It appears to have been sent to him on his personal email address on 5 March 2019. In terms of him not signing his contract, I am not aware if he raised issues about his notice period when he was given this and that by starting to work here in effect means that he has accepting the terms and conditions of the contract even if it isn’t signed. I have pasted a link below from the ACAS website which relates to this.

I gave them 6 weeks of notice.
What can I do in this case as I need to start a new position on 1st of July, and they keep saying I need to fulfil the 3 months of notice period.
What could be the consequence if I decide to leave by the end of June if three months of notice finishes 16th of August.

Thanks for your help.

TELLIT01 · 18 June 2019 at 3:05PM

Theoretically they could take you to court although that is highly unlikely. More likely is that you will find it very difficult to get employment in the NHS at any time in the future. They may also decline to provide a reference, and leaving them off your CV completely will leave a gap in employment for you to explain away.

jemima82 · 18 June 2019 at 3:06PM

Tell them you are leaving at the end of the notice you've given. Common law minimum notice is 1 week - they can only take action against you if they can prove a financial loss in you not working your 3 months notice.

Of course they can also decline to give a reference and you never know who you will meet again in future employment. But they can't physically force you to work the full three months!

TBagpuss · 18 June 2019 at 3:12PM

Unless you can show that you queried the notice perios when you got your contract, I think the fact that you had not signed it is a red herrring. It doesn't need to be signed, and you continued working having received it.

So your notice period is 3 months.

If you leave without notice, they are entitled to sue you for their losses, which would typically be the cost of employing a temp to cover your notice period (less the saving in not paying you) and potenatilly a bit in the way of admin costs.

Whether they would actually persue this is another matter, but as above, it may mean that they decline to employ you in future and give a factual referecne stating you left them in the lurch.

Can you not speak to the new employer, explain you made a mistake over the notice period and ask them to push back your start date?

jonnygee2 · 18 June 2019 at 3:28PM

What's your actual role? As others have said the risk is them replacing you with someone temporary, and then suing you for losses. So, that's a risk you have to calculate.

For example, if you are a doctor, the risk is huge. They could bill you for the additional cost of hiring a locum doctor, which could easily be tens of thousands of pounds.

But, if you work in admin, the reality is that temp admin staff are rarely more expensive than salaried when all benefits are taken into account. So the differences would be tiny and its extremely unlikely that anyone will chase you down for the few hundred quid difference.

Many roles - e.g. team manager - you cannot easily replace with temp admin staff from an agency, in which case there is very little risk because if there are no additional costs of you leaving there is nothing they can really do.

Comms69 · 18 June 2019 at 4:06PM

konradw wrote: »

Good afternoon,

I have been working in NHS for last 4 months, and I am still on my probation period which is 6 months (no performance reviews been for the time being). Meantime I found another job so I handed notice to my line manager. I have to addmitt I haven't signed contract, as it has neen sent via email about 2 weeks after I've started my employment. Standard NHS contract states that on the probation the notice period is 1 week, however my contract doesn't mention that.

This is what my contract say:

You are required to give three calendar months notice of termination of your contract of employment
in writing to your line manager.
Except for cases of gross misconduct where you can be summarily dismissed in accordance with the
Trust’s Disciplinary Policy and Procedure. You are entitled to receive a minimum of one month, or the
amount detailed in the table below (whichever is greater), notice of termination of your contract of
employment:"

This is the email I have recieved from HR:

I have checked his contract which states he has a three month notice period. It appears to have been sent to him on his personal email address on 5 March 2019. In terms of him not signing his contract, I am not aware if he raised issues about his notice period when he was given this and that by starting to work here in effect means that he has accepting the terms and conditions of the contract even if it isn’t signed. I have pasted a link below from the ACAS website which relates to this.

I gave them 6 weeks of notice.
What can I do in this case as I need to start a new position on 1st of July, and they keep saying I need to fulfil the 3 months of notice period.
What could be the consequence if I decide to leave by the end of June if three months of notice finishes 16th of August.

Thanks for your help.

Well I suspect your reference will be bad; and you may get pursued for costs.

Not sure why you think it's ok to not stick to the terms of your contract to be honest

Comms69 · 18 June 2019 at 4:07PM

jemima82 wrote: »

Tell them you are leaving at the end of the notice you've given. Common law minimum notice is 1 week - they can only take action against you if they can prove a financial loss in you not working your 3 months notice.

Of course they can also decline to give a reference and you never know who you will meet again in future employment. But they can't physically force you to work the full three months!

Nothing to do with common law....

and losses are easy to prove for many NHS positions.

Comms69 · 18 June 2019 at 4:08PM

jonnygee2 wrote: »

What's your actual role? As others have said the risk is them replacing you with someone temporary, and then suing you for losses. So, that's a risk you have to calculate.

For example, if you are a doctor, the risk is huge. They could bill you for the additional cost of hiring a locum doctor, which could easily be tens of thousands of pounds.

But, if you work in admin, the reality is that temp admin staff are rarely more expensive than salaried when all benefits are taken into account. So the differences would be tiny and its extremely unlikely that anyone will chase you down for the few hundred quid difference.

Many roles - e.g. team manager - you cannot easily replace with temp admin staff from an agency, in which case there is very little risk because if there are no additional costs of you leaving there is nothing they can really do.

I know plenty of admin staff where temporary workers are at £500+ a day...

Wyndham · 18 June 2019 at 5:00PM

How do you know it's one month on probation? I work for a University and my contact says 3 months notice, but there are additional terms and conditions which includes that while on probation it's 1 months notice. This document was sent to me with my contract, but is separate. Have you checked everything you were sent?

konradw · 19 June 2019 at 9:35AM

I wanted to finish earlier as this place is just a nightmare, and I'm still on my probation so it would make sense that I have just realised that this job isnt for me during probation.

My contract also say that they could give me 1 month of notice only. I work as a pharmacist.

Comms69 · 19 June 2019 at 11:38AM

konradw wrote: »

I wanted to finish earlier as this place is just a nightmare, and I'm still on my probation so it would make sense that I have just realised that this job isnt for me during probation.

My contract also say that they could give me 1 month of notice only. I work as a pharmacist.

So a critical role. If you do leave early I would be significantly concerned what your reference would say.

Your employment possibilities in the future could be impaired

Leaving before notice period finish

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