Notice period legal issues

**northernladuk** · 7 October 2010, 08:47

Shocking grammar makes this very difficult to understand.. Back or Bank???

The contracts you are talking about are different to the contracts most of us have so there is a missunderstanding for a start as the answer would be different for us rather than you. I am sure there are enough people that might be able to help.

In theory yes you could be in a lot of trouble. You have breached your contract which can be pretty serious. For us contractors it will normally result in a lot of shouting and nothing much will come of it. I don't know about permie land. I guess they will shout alot and threaten you with things but if there is little impact on the business they will probably let it die down. If you are moving to a competitor or leave them in a position of financial/business loss you could be in a lot of trouble. There is probably something in your contract about working for clients or competitors for 3-6 months after. If the company you are moving to is a competitor I wouldn't be surprised if your ex employer will stop you taking the job. This could cause you some problems.

Why did you not speak to your new employer and tell them you have 4 weeks notice?
Is the new role a contract to permie type or a proper short term contract?
Is the new employer a competitor of the old one?
Read your contract and see if you have a handcuff clause (can't work for competitors)?
What are the hardships your last company will face? Serious business problems or just have to find someone to replace you?

Don't expect to get paid anything your ex employer owes you buy the way. You have probably kissed that goodbye.
If you rely on references to get work in the future you are screwed as well.

**Goodmans** · 7 October 2010, 09:28

Sorry for the bad grammar mates.

1. New employment is not a competetor bank. Its completely new business. (there is no caluse about this in the contract as I dont deal with any business related work) its just a backoffice developper.
2. The problem for my current employer is to find a replacement for my position.
3. I dont hold a big position or something. i am a Senior Developer.

Regards
G

**SueEllen** · 7 October 2010, 09:41

Originally posted by Goodmans View Post

Sorry for the bad grammar mates.

1. New employment is not a competetor bank. Its completely new business. (there is no caluse about this in the contract as I dont deal with any business related work) its just a backoffice developper.
2. The problem for my current employer is to find a replacement for my position.
3. I dont hold a big position or something. i am a Senior Developer.

Regards
G

FFS use a spell checker. You can get ones that are plugins to your browser.

The issue you have is that you have a permie contract where you are required to give 4 weeks notice to terminate. There as your employer is only required to give one at the moment due to being in your probation period.

The reason your employer is annoyed is that you didn't go and speak to them and tell them there was a "problem" which meant you wanted to leave early.

In reality the employer can threaten to sue you but it's unlikely as it's not cost effective. Instead they will just sl*g you off to everyone in the industry.

Your current permanent employer has no legal grounds to withhold your pay but is likely to. If you threaten to sue them for it they can threaten to counter sue you for breach of contract. Depending on how much this is you could end up paying them money.

**Unicorn** · 7 October 2010, 09:55

Financial implications

As has been mentioned your current employer can sue you for the breach of contract.

However, I believe they can only sue you for actual costs they incur. So if they hire a contractor and they arrive, and do the work you did, for the last 2 weeks of your notice period, they could sue you for the new contractor’s rate x10 days.

If they can't get a new person in place before the end of your notice period you dodge the financial bullet.

**Old Greg** · 7 October 2010, 10:35

Originally posted by Unicorn View Post

As has been mentioned your current employer can sue you for the breach of contract.

However, I believe they can only sue you for actual costs they incur. So if they hire a contractor and they arrive, and do the work you did, for the last 2 weeks of your notice period, they could sue you for the new contractor’s rate x10 days.

If they can't get a new person in place before the end of your notice period you dodge the financial bullet.

IANAL but I would think it is for the damages they suffer, and therefore the reasonable costs they incur. But will they really bother to sue?

**Unicorn** · 7 October 2010, 10:55

Originally posted by Old Greg View Post

IANAL but I would think it is for the damages they suffer, and therefore the reasonable costs they incur. But will they really bother to sue?

Indeed IANAL but I don't think they can sue for "damages", the only thing they can sue for is actuals costs incurred for the duration of the breach of contract. So they can only sue for the cost of a replacement for the notice period.

However, I think I was wrong saying they could claim the full replacement amount, the current employer would also have deduct what it would have cost them to pay the OP.

**Dearnla** · 7 October 2010, 13:56

Worst case scenario is that they sue you for a lot of money.

Best hope they can't really be arsed and you get away with it. Next time don't take a permie job if you don't intend to stay permanent. Tsk, Tsk 0/10, see me.

p.s. presumably not employed for your English skills, then?

Notice period legal issues