Giving notice of resignation to UK employers
July 5, 2017 2:40 AM   Subscribe

I've been working for a company in the UK for two weeks and have been offered a more attractive job that will start in 6 weeks. At what point should I inform my current employer if I want to preserve as much pay as possible?

Both jobs are contact-centre roles. The current job has a 6-week training program and a 6-month probationary period. When the new job starts I'll only have been out of training for 2 weeks. I regret that I'll probably be abandoning this company right after they've invested the training in me but I'm still planning to stay here as long as possible because I need the income and because I'm going to give the current job the opportunity to offer a pay rise and/or perks to bring themselves even with the other offer.

If I give this current employer 2 weeks notice of my departure and they decide that they don't want me to keep coming into work for those two weeks, will they be obligated to pay me during that time or will my standing as a probationary employee mean that they can simply dismiss me at the time of notice and not have to pay anything further?

If I give no notice as all am I open to any liability under UK law that I should be aware of?
posted by chudmonkey to Work & Money (8 answers total)
 
What does your contract say? It should spell all this out.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:45 AM on July 5, 2017 [4 favorites]


Typically employers in the UK include a three or six month probationary period where they can terminate you immediately if it's not working out. That goes both ways. But like koahiatamadl said, read your contract.
posted by Leon at 3:02 AM on July 5, 2017


Your contract will stipulate your notice period. These are typically one month, but they often reduce to a week during a probationary period. Once you've been working somewhere for a month, then they are legally obliged to give you at least a week's notice. This means that if you resign and they ask you to go on "gardening leave" they still have to pay you for at least another week - or possibly more, depending on your contract.

If you leave without giving your required notice (of whatever time period is stipulated in your contract) then they are theoretically entitled to recover costs from you through the courts. For example, if they had have to bring in other staff and pay them overtime to cover your absence, then you might be liable for the extra expense above what they would have paid you.
posted by emilyw at 3:51 AM on July 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


I'm in agreement with emilyw. It's one week during probationary period and one month if you're been there longer. Again, check your contract because it might have very specific stipulations. If it's only one week's notice, I wouldn't tell them so soon just in case they say 'bye then'. Unless you have enough money to live on? Maybe the day after payday?
posted by ihaveyourfoot at 5:04 AM on July 5, 2017


I've hired (and fired :( ) in the UK, and completely concur with the above. Your employment conditions are set in your contract, and will state clearly the amount of notice you need to give during your probationary period and thereafter. It's normally a week, then a month, but sometimes it differs if a lot of training is involved and the company wants to give itself a better chance of a return on that investment. And I've seen some other peculiarities which won't apply here to do with long periods of notice - so the very best advice, as given above, is to read your contract .


(I've also seen someone actually start a new job without resigning their old one. taking a lot of leave, then unapproved absences, before just vanishing. I do not recommend this at all; there was talk of legal action which came to nothing, but that person's reputation in the business suffered badly.)
posted by Devonian at 5:48 AM on July 5, 2017


You should check your contract about repayment of training costs. In the US at my current job the employment agreement stated that the company could ask for reimbursement of training costs if you left within a year of starting.
posted by tman99 at 6:18 AM on July 5, 2017


You will have been employed for less than 13 weeks. The notice you are therefore required under EU law to give your employer is one week.
posted by DarlingBri at 8:00 AM on July 5, 2017 [1 favorite]


Here's the government guidance on the issue. It's also worth noting that assuming you're full time, and I've calculated correctly that you'll have been there 8 weeks, you'll be entitled to 2 days of holiday or payment in lieu of it.
posted by ambrosen at 4:28 PM on July 5, 2017


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