Handing in 4 weeks notice, contract is looking for 2 months

thorbarry

Hi Guys,

As the title says, I am handing in my notice of 4 weeks. My contract says i have to give 2 months. I am working here 18 months, is there anything my employer can do, or does anyone have any advice?

In my defence, My contract states that I was supposed to get an annual salary review after 1 year of working. I never got this, despite asking many times, I was told I would not be getting one this year.

Any advice would be great

Procrastastudy

Technically you could be sued for breach of contract. I've yet to hear this happen at all but the most senior levels of an organisation. While I have no idea of the circumstances it's a fairly shoddy employer who doesn't make allowances for a member of staff to work the notice period of the previous employment.

TL;DR Very unlikely anything will happen.

Eoin

Though you might be able to write off the chances of a favourable review. This might not be a concern if you've already got a new role.

Procrastastudy wrote:

it's a fairly shoddy employer who doesn't make allowances for a member of staff to work the notice period of the previous employment.

I agree, though personally I think anything over 4 weeks notice is a bit OTT for non-senior exec type roles. So expecting someone can start in 4 weeks isn't that unreasonable.

The cases where the new employer is expecting someone to quit their job and start within a week is acting very unreasonably.

In my defence, My contract states that I was supposed to get an annual salary review after 1 year of working. I never got this, despite asking many times, I was told I would not be getting one this year.

Maybe they did review it and didn't give you an increase!

inforfun

These notice periods are bull anyway.
I have yet to see a replacement being interviewed, hired and trained within the notice time of the person leaving.

Whether you make it 1,2 or 3 months it is just never working.

Eoin

You still might have tasks to complete, even if there's no replacement to handover to.

Nody

inforfun wrote: »

These notice periods are bull anyway.
I have yet to see a replacement being interviewed, hired and trained within the notice time of the person leaving.

Whether you make it 1,2 or 3 months it is just never working.

And that's ironically because the person you hire is likely to have similar notice period on their end to give as well (and lets be honest; not many HR department have a file with suitable candidates for every position that's up to date).

The real reason for notice period is to ensure proper hand over and closure thoug. As someone who had to deal with people walking out one day I can fully appriciate the notice period even if it is simply to get things hobbling along until the replacement arrives.

inforfun

Of course a bit of notice to finish a few things doesnt hurt.
But 2 months?

Lets face it, there is a reason you are leaving. Keeping someone for 2 months will probably not be the most productive months that person is going to give.
I would imagine that 4 weeks notice is more than enough for 90% of the jobs.

Eoin

inforfun wrote: »

Of course a bit of notice to finish a few things doesnt hurt.
But 2 months?

Lets face it, there is a reason you are leaving. Keeping someone for 2 months will probably not be the most productive months that person is going to give.
I would imagine that 4 weeks notice is more than enough for 90% of the jobs.

I totally agree. As I said, unless you're in a very senior position, then anything over a month is a bit unreasonable.

I had a 3 month notice period (wasn't senior at all!) in my last place, and it was a complete pain in the bum when I ended up leaving as I had to negotiate to get it down to 5 or 6 weeks.

Procrastastudy

A couple of weeks to hire someone - 4 weeks to train them in. Thats not even counting the notice time they will have to work. 2 months isn't unreasonable if thats how long it takes the business to get in new staff. As for productivity I'd like to think if you were leaving on good terms then you'd pull your weight for your notice period.

Frankly if it is unreasonable then one shouldn't sign the employment contract/take the job. There is of course the old principle that we are all free to break a contract, however, the consequences of that could be damages.

thorbarry

Thanks for the advice guys.

So i don't think anything is going to happen. IF they were going to take action, could I take action also for not getting the salary review that is in my contract?

Eoin

No requests for legal advice please of this nature - this is made really clear in the charter.

Gmol

You could say to them that they didn't follow the agreement to review your salary so in effect they didn't follow their own procedure so you would like them to waive the 2 month period as well