leaving job without giving notice

nino1

I started a new job last year and have only been paid in time once. i am contracted to be paid the last day of the month but its been 2 weeks late at times.
i want to leave and i'm contracted to give 4 weeks notice.
since my employer has broken his side of the contract could i just walk away without giving any notice?

want are the legal implications of this?

Procrastastudy

Unless you're is a mission critical position likely to cause massive harm to the business it's very unlikely they are going to care.

In fact if it was me I'd say fair play for just walking away and not causing a load of crap. However if you do walk it's going to make it more difficult to get social welfare payment if you need / want them.

I can't give you an answer on the legal implications I'm afraid but I've never heard of a company going after someone for quitting without notice. Passing on info "though the grapevine" to perspective employers yes - but suing someone for quitting no.

As always seek some proper advice - but for this sort of thing the citizens advice folks could probably help you out fairly quickly.

blueythebear

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

I can't give you an answer on the legal implications I'm afraid but I've never heard of a company going after someone for quitting without notice. Passing on info "though the grapevine" to perspective employers yes - but suing someone for quitting no.

It has and does happen that employers pursue breach of contract proceedings where a high value employee leaves. However, this would only be for high paid strategically important roles.

If you are not in one of these roles, there would not be likely to be any legal consequences other than a bad reference.

The more suitable (and mature) thing to do is to bring your complaint to your employer in order to give him/her the chance to rectify it. If not then, you can hand in your notice. However, in this economy, why you would walk away from any job without another job in place is beyond me.

nino1

blueythebear wrote: »

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

I can't give you an answer on the legal implications I'm afraid but I've never heard of a company going after someone for quitting without notice. Passing on info "though the grapevine" to perspective employers yes - but suing someone for quitting no.

It has and does happen that employers pursue breach of contract proceedings where a high value employee leaves. However, this would only be for high paid strategically important roles.

If you are not in one of these roles, there would not be likely to be any legal consequences other than a bad reference.

The more suitable (and mature) thing to do is to bring your complaint to your employer in order to give him/her the chance to rectify it. If not then, you can hand in your notice. However, in this economy, why you would walk away from any job without another job in place is beyond me.

Thanks for the replies.
The reason that I am thinking of leaving without giving notice is because when others have left they have not been paid at all or not been paid for 6 months in another case. I don't want to be chasing my wages for months.
I have another job lined up.

I am stratigally important and he would lose some money (not a huge amount) until he found a replacement.

My main question is, surely if he has broken the contract every month by not paying me on time that he then would not have a leg to stand on by perusing me for breach of contract?

bath handle

nino1 wrote: »

blueythebear wrote: »

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

I can't give you an answer on the legal implications I'm afraid but I've never heard of a company going after someone for quitting without notice. Passing on info "though the grapevine" to perspective employers yes - but suing someone for quitting no.

It has and does happen that employers pursue breach of contract proceedings where a high value employee leaves. However, this would only be for high paid strategically important roles.

If you are not in one of these roles, there would not be likely to be any legal consequences other than a bad reference.

The more suitable (and mature) thing to do is to bring your complaint to your employer in order to give him/her the chance to rectify it. If not then, you can hand in your notice. However, in this economy, why you would walk away from any job without another job in place is beyond me.

Thanks for the replies.
The reason that I am thinking of leaving without giving notice is because when others have left they have not been paid at all or not been paid for 6 months in another case. I don't want to be chasing my wages for months.
I have another job lined up.

I am stratigally important and he would lose some money (not a huge amount) until he found a replacement.

My main question is, surely if he has broken the contract every month by not paying me on time that he then would not have a leg to stand on by perusing me for breach of contract?

The legal question is whether, not paying on time amounts to a breach of concition entitling you to repudiate the contract. Most likely it would. Individuals like that are usually too mean to take court cases anyw
ay.

Procrastastudy

Right not meaning to hijack as it's sort or relevant (I have that statement hot keyed) -

When I was a retail manager we had an issue with the bank cocking-up the pay. Literally everyone in Ireland was affected and to be fair it was only a day and it only happened the once. I was chatting to one of the bosses who handled it in a very professional and understanding way and authorised advances for anyone who was uncertain, in need &c.

Me not being anywhere near as reasonable said they'll get paid tomorrow what the bloody problem to which he replied - "because they can take it out of the till if we don't pay them on time."

I suppose I'm asking what recourse the OP has (or indeed anyone) who's company isn't paying them in a timely fashion commensurate with their contract.

Lift the office supplies, not turn in?

Notwithsatnding the OP could be let go with no recourse due to being under the twelve months.

Milk & Honey

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

Right not meaning to hijack as it's sort or relevant (I have that statement hot keyed) -

When I was a retail manager we had an issue with the bank cocking-up the pay. Literally everyone in Ireland was affected and to be fair it was only a day and it only happened the once. I was chatting to one of the bosses who handled it in a very professional and understanding way and authorised advances for anyone who was uncertain, in need &c.

Me not being anywhere near as reasonable said they'll get paid tomorrow what the bloody problem to which he replied - "because they can take it out of the till if we don't pay them on time."

I suppose I'm asking what recourse the OP has (or indeed anyone) who's company isn't paying them in a timely fashion commensurate with their contract.

Lift the office supplies, not turn in?

Notwithsatnding the OP could be let go with no recourse due to being under the twelve months.

A problem on a single day would amount to a breach of warranty and would not entitle an employee to repudiate. Employees would have no right to simply take money from a till if their wages were late.
That being said, the Manager was correct not to allow any ill feeling over the matter.

nino1

bath handle wrote: »

The legal question is whether, not paying on time amounts to a breach of concition entitling you to repudiate the contract. Most likely it would. Individuals like that are usually too mean to take court cases anyw
ay.

thats what i was getting at alright.
I would have thought it was very straight forward and definately a reason to repudiate.
could my employer potentially have a case?
how could he justify breaking his end of the contract multiple times and expect me to keep my end?

nino1

nino1 wrote: »

thats what i was getting at alright.
I would have thought it was very straight forward and definately a reason to repudiate.
could my employer potentially have a case?
how could he justify breaking his end of the contract multiple times and expect me to keep my end?

Just to follow up on this, i talked to my solicitor on friday and he says that i could walk away without giving notice.
he seemed very definate about it.
Should his advise be taken as gold or is that just his subjective view?

Do you think there is a possibility of getting sued given that my employer has broken the contract every month so far with late payments?

kdowling

nino1 wrote: »

Just to follow up on this, i talked to my solicitor on friday and he says that i could walk away without giving notice.
he seemed very definate about it.
Should his advise be taken as gold or is that just his subjective view?

Do you think there is a possibility of getting sued given that my employer has broken the contract every month so far with late payments?

my friend was in a similiar position althought he gave one week notice instead of the contracted 4 weeks.

his employer threatened to sue him but never did.

i would imagine it your employer has broken the contract multiple times you would be free to walk away but that is just a laymans view!

pirelli

nino1 wrote: »

I started a new job last year and have only been paid in time once. i am contracted to be paid the last day of the month but its been 2 weeks late at times.
i want to leave and i'm contracted to give 4 weeks notice.
since my employer has broken his side of the contract could i just walk away without giving any notice?

want are the legal implications of this?

If you bring the matter to the manager, your at least in with a chance of getting some money otherwise you get nothing.

nino1

thanks for all the replies so far.
i didn't get paid today either so i'm going to have to make a decision tomorrow.
would appreciate a bit of last minute advise!

I gather from the replies so far that the main question is whether not paying on time amounts to a breach of condition entitling me to repudiate the contract.

What do you guys think, if he decided to sue me would I have a good enough case. My lawyer thinks I would but I would appreciate other opinions.
Ps I have brought this to the attention of my boss every month and have been met with excuses/lies every time! I think if I give a months notice he will not pay me for last month .
thanks in advance for any help

nino1

today i talked to two former employees that left in the last few months because of the late payment issues. one still has not been paid in full the other had to wait two months and threaten legal action etc.

i don't want this hassle of trying to chase my wages.

if i was to leave without giving notice and got the two employees to give wtriien evidence of their experience would that be enough to avoid legal action by my employer?

Procrastastudy

You've spoken to a solicitor who has given you advice.

You've posted on boards and people have given you advice - the consensus seems to be that employers generally don't sue. I don't mean to be rude but seriously unless your job is critical to the company and they invested €€€ in hiring you they are hardly going to bother! I'd suggest the job would probably need to be paying over €100,000 a year. If it is paying over €100,000 I'd fecking stay and just make sure I saved a bit from the last month I did get :P

Why don't you speak to a different solicitor if you want a second (tenth!) opinion that will actually carry any weight. Personally I'd probably be looking to take a constructive dismissal claim against them in they had frequently failed to pay me rather than worrying I was going to be sued.

Jesus why not hand in you notice and get a doctors note to say you're too stressed to come in!

blueythebear

GCDLawstudent wrote: »

You've spoken to a solicitor who has given you advice.

You've posted on boards and people have given you advice - the consensus seems to be that employers generally don't sue. I don't mean to be rude but seriously unless your job is critical to the company and they invested €€€ in hiring you they are hardly going to bother! I'd suggest the job would probably need to be paying over €100,000 a year. If it is paying over €100,000 I'd fecking stay and just make sure I saved a bit from the last month I did get :P

Why don't you speak to a different solicitor if you want a second (tenth!) opinion that will actually carry any weight. Personally I'd probably be looking to take a constructive dismissal claim against them in they had frequently failed to pay me rather than worrying I was going to be sued.

Jesus why not hand in you notice and get a doctors note to say you're too stressed to come in!

I agree with this. You have a solicitor. Listen to them!

It is very unlikely that you are important enough to be sued by your employer over this, unless you are an integral part of a multimillion euro company that would likely have to close down over your departure.