Resigning During Probation - 3 Months Notice!

Dats_rite

Hi all,

I started a job at the end of May and now I realise it is not for me. In my contract it said the employer can end the position by giving 1 months notice if under 2 years of employment and 3 months if over 2 years of employment.

I assumed that I had to give 1 month notice therefore to end the employment. However HR have pointed out that below this line it says the employee may end the employment by giving 3 months notice.

I find this very long considering I am only 4 months into a 6 month probation.

Has anyone had this problem before and if so did the company force you to stay for the 3 months? Or are they likely to take legal action against me for breach of contract if I stick to my 1 month notice?

Thanks

Slydice

After a quick google, the advice seems to be to discuss it with your employer

This article had the most advice I could find:
https://www.monster.ie/career-advice/article/what-can-i-do-about-my-long-notice-period

Stuff like:

One of the most common and least painful ways of reducing your notice period is simply to ask to offset it against any outstanding leave. For example, if you have two weeks holiday outstanding and your employer is willing, you may be able to use it to reduce your notice period – and still get paid.

Cookie_Monster

Dats_rite wrote: »

Has anyone had this problem before and if so did the company force you to stay for the 3 months? Or are they likely to take legal action against me for breach of contract if I stick to my 1 month notice?

Dealt with this before from the company side. Wages can be deducted to cover the period, but good luck trying to make someone pay additional over. If you're not worried about the money or more importantly any reference just walk away.

Stark

I've had 3 months notice period in my contract last two jobs and neither one asked me to stay that long.

Jim2007

Dats_rite wrote: »

Hi all,

I started a job at the end of May and now I realise it is not for me. In my contract it said the employer can end the position by giving 1 months notice if under 2 years of employment and 3 months if over 2 years of employment.

I assumed that I had to give 1 month notice therefore to end the employment. However HR have pointed out that below this line it says the employee may end the employment by giving 3 months notice.

I find this very long considering I am only 4 months into a 6 month probation.

Has anyone had this problem before and if so did the company force you to stay for the 3 months? Or are they likely to take legal action against me for breach of contract if I stick to my 1 month notice?

Thanks

Normally during the probation, notice period is much shorter. Have you read the contract in it's entirety and the employee handbook/notices etc...

If you are on probation and don't want to be there, it is hard to imagine that your employer would want you to hang around for very long...

machaseh

For individual dismissals, employees are entitled to a statutory minimum notice of one week provided that they have been working for the employer for at least 13 weeks. The contract of employment may provide for a longer period of notice. The notice periods for individual dismissals are regulated by the Minimum Notice and Terms of Employment Acts 1973–2005 and depend on the employees’ length of service. The notice periods are the following:

13 weeks to 2 years of employment: 1 week

https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legislation/ireland-notice-period-to-employees

My advice would be to sit it out until your next payroll cut off (many companies have that somewhere around the middle of the month), then hand in your 1 week notice in writing. You'll get your full pay at the end of the month and then you can walk away after pay-day.

Companies can and will hold your salary if they have legal grounds to do so but they are not going to be chasing you to pay back money.