Giving more than statutory notice

DM addict

A quick question regarding giving notice.

One of my colleagues will be returning to college full time in the near future so will be handing in her notice at work. She is required under her contract to give four weeks but wanted to hand in her notice sooner as she didn't want to keep it a secret at work.

Upon hearing us discussing this, another colleague said "I wouldn't risk doing that because they'll probably just hire someone to do your job and let you go within the month".

Is is possible for an employer to insist that an employee *only* works the minimum notice period? I.e., if she tells her employer she's intending on leaving and finishing in July, can they let her go as soon as the four weeks is up?

Hope that makes sense!

matrim

DM addict wrote: »

A quick question regarding giving notice.

One of my colleagues will be returning to college full time in the near future so will be handing in her notice at work. She is required under her contract to give four weeks but wanted to hand in her notice sooner as she didn't want to keep it a secret at work.

Upon hearing us discussing this, another colleague said "I wouldn't risk doing that because they'll probably just hire someone to do your job and let you go within the month".

Is is possible for an employer to insist that an employee *only* works the minimum notice period? I.e., if she tells her employer she's intending on leaving and finishing in July, can they let her go as soon as the four weeks is up?

Hope that makes sense!

AFAIK it's possible. If they wanted they could send her home on the spot, they would still have to pay her the 4 weeks notice but they don't have to allow her to have access to the office.

witnessmenow

Depends on the relationship with the employer I guess.

I left a job and I ended up nearly giving 3 months notice.

I was confident that they wouldn't attempt to screw me over as I had a good relationship with my boss. (Well I also knew they couldn't afford to work wise, they were too busy).

So I ended up advising on my process of hiring my replacement and helped train them in. The day I finished up my boss thanked me for giving so much notice that it really helped them out and if there was anything i needed to give him a shout.

I'm glad I gave them longer notice, but I guess things could work out differently

StompToWork

matrim wrote: »

AFAIK it's possible. If they wanted they could send her home on the spot, they would still have to pay her the 4 weeks notice but they don't have to allow her to have access to the office.

That only applies in the case where the employer issues notice to an employee. They are obliged to pay the 4 weeks wages even if they ask the employee to finish up there and then.

If an employee issues notice to an employer, the employer may decide that they do not require 4 weeks notice, and simply let the employee go there and then.

Eoin

StompToWork wrote:

If an employee issues notice to an employer, the employer may decide that they do not require 4 weeks notice, and simply let the employee go there and then.

They can send you home on the spot, but must continue to pay you during your notice period - this is commonly called garden leave; it doesn't matter who gives notice to who. You're still officially a paid employee up until the original leaving date (barring dismissal for gross misconduct, which is a different thing).

DM addict - that's a good question. If they're technically dismissing the employee by shortening the notice period that had been given, then that sounds a bit dodgy. I'd suggest that she starts by checking the exact wording of the contract.

Or perhaps just say nothing until June. She might think she's doing them a favour, and I think that I'd be inclined to be honest in the same situation. But even if they don't try and force her out, they might (perhaps unintentionally) make the last few months a bit crap for her if they know that she's not going to be around for much longer.

kidneyfan

Give four weeks notice. No reason to be a fool in order to be nice.

Sideshow Mark

Tell her to tell her boss, as its the decent thing to do, but don't actually hand in the written notice until 4 weeks before the date she wants to leave on.

Eoin

Sideshow Mark wrote: »

Tell her to tell her boss, as its the decent thing to do, but don't actually hand in the written notice until 4 weeks before the date she wants to leave on.

It is the nice thing to do, but it might not be the sensible thing to do. The problem is that if the boss knows she's leaving, then the work she gets might reflect that.

That said, if the boss was talking about projects coming up after June and scheduling her time etc, I might be more inclined to have a quiet word.

It all depends on the job, and her relationship with her boss.