Working your notice

[gerry]

In our work place it used to be that you had to give 2 weeks notice if you were leaving the company.Just after January there it all changed and now depending how many years you have been with the company, that is how many weeks notice you give them.So in my case it would be 8 weeks.My question is what would happen if i refused to work 8 weeks notice and instead i would just work 2 weeks.I know i would prob lose out money wise but can a company stop you from doing that? & would it affect my reference if i had to get 1 from them?

[Mortartube]

Unless you signed a renegotiated contract, (assuming you have signed a contract), I would consider your original contract to be legally binding (i.e 2 weeks notice). Unless the original has some get out clause about changing conditions as and when they wish without your say so.

[woofgang]

If the notice period is mutual, ie they have to give it to you too, then this might have been negotiated as a benefit. if you know stuff about your company...commercial secrets etc then it is common practice to waive notice and escort you to the door when you announce that you are leaving to protect the company's interests

[apricot]

Are you getting contractual notice confused with statutory notice? The company is obliged to give you statutory notice which is determined by the length of time you have worked with the company but you have to give contractual notice ie however long was specified on your contract. What sanction would the company take if you left after 2 weeks? They could sue you for the 6 weeks work they think you owe them but that would be very expensive and unlikely to be guaranteed successfull. Anything can affect a reference, lets face it, although employment law has made it very difficult for an employer to give an unwarranted bad reference. My advice to you would be to take your contract of employment to Citizens Advice and ask their opinion. It is free after all. Good Luck, any problems come back to AB.

[gerry]

I haven't signed a new contract Mortartube.We found out about the changes when the new hand book came out.The reason i asked the question is because i have found in the past that any place i have worked for it was usually 2 weeks notice you had to give.I guess the way i'm thinking is if i'm offered a new job but tell them i can't join them for another 8 weeks then that would affect my chances of getting the job,if you know what i mean.

[Spellmaster]

I believe mortartube to be correct - the company cannot arbitrarily change your notice period without a renegotiated contract. They might claim you now have to give eight weeks' notice, but they will not be able to enforce this legally.