Employment law

I am more of a 'lurker' rather than a poster but i know there are a fair few learned people on here, so hopefully someone will come up with an answer.

Basically without going into too much detail i have decided to quit my job after the end of my shift on wednesday.

I do a 4 on 4 off shift pattern and have booked my next four days off as annual leave.

My question is, firstly, if i quit my job and obviously not work through my notice period (four weeks) can a company withold my pay for the days i have already worked?

Also, as i get paid for my annual leave can they also decide not to give me the money for that aswell.

Really i dont want to be struck with either my company not paying me a penny for work i have done or worse they taking legal action against me for breach of contract (as i wont be working my notice period)

My boss doesnt know i am quitting (yet), i would just like to know if i can feasibly just tell him to stick his job where the sun doesnt shine come wednesday or should i really just hand him a letter of resignation and work my notice.

As i am suppose to be working Christmas Day (for the 3rd year in a row) i would prefer the answer to be the former.

Thankyou in advance

A few points that you need to ascertain :

1. Have you been given a contract of employment. If yes, this should state the terms and conditions which you and your employer have to adhere to.

2. If you are taking unpaid leave then inform your employer in writing.

3. If you wish to leave and you have a notice period your employer may insist that you work that period - it works both ways.i.e if they wanted to get rid of you.

4. Ensure that you record all communications.

5. If possible, have a Union rep./ responsible person to accompany in any discussions as a witness.

There a loads more suggestions, but hope that helps in the meantime.

It is likely that the company will wish to recalculate your entitlement to paid leave, based pro-rata on the number of days that you have actually worked, rather than the number of days you might expect to work in a full year. If you have taken more paid leave than you should have, the chances are that they will deduct a sum of money from your final payment. You may well find that their entitlement to do that is written into your contract of employment.

Everything depends on your employment contract, personally I think you should work your notice if required but then I am slightly biased

arkan said:

I am more of a 'lurker' rather than a poster but i know there are a fair few learned people on here, so hopefully someone will come up with an answer.

Basically without going into too much detail i have decided to quit my job after the end of my shift on wednesday.

I do a 4 on 4 off shift pattern and have booked my next four days off as annual leave.

My question is, firstly, if i quit my job and obviously not work through my notice period (four weeks) can a company withold my pay for the days i have already worked?

Also, as i get paid for my annual leave can they also decide not to give me the money for that aswell.

Really i dont want to be struck with either my company not paying me a penny for work i have done or worse they taking legal action against me for breach of contract (as i wont be working my notice period)

My boss doesnt know i am quitting (yet), i would just like to know if i can feasibly just tell him to stick his job where the sun doesnt shine come wednesday or should i really just hand him a letter of resignation and work my notice.

As i am suppose to be working Christmas Day (for the 3rd year in a row) i would prefer the answer to be the former.

Thankyou in advance

Click to expand...

My only advice would be never leave a job on bad terms,it may come back to haunt you

Notice periods work both ways.

If you are made redundant, your employer has to advise you in advance warning under the terms of your employment contract which will set out the notice period, commonly four weeks, to enable you to take appropriate measures (e.g. start to find alternative employment, notify mortgage/loan lenders that your income may be lost etc).

If you are quitting your role and your Employer needs to replace you, he needs time to take appropriate measures (whether it be to hire agency staff or a permanent replacement). These things cannot happen overnight! By not honouring the notice period in your contract, your employer could take action against you for breach of contract and things can get messy. Lord Bracknell is right with his point on re-calculation of paid leave that you have taken.

If you knew this was on the horizon, you should have handed your resignation (this is why it's often referred to as "handing in your notice") in a few weeks ago.

As Northstander has said, never leave a job on bad terms. Check your contract of employment.

If you want a shorter notice period, you will have to ask your boss and see if his is agreeable - sometimes employers don't want someone around for any longer than they want to be there, particularly if they are unhappy and could affect colleagues.

Lankyseagull said:

If you are quitting your role and your Employer needs to replace you, he needs time to take appropriate measures (whether it be to hire agency staff or a permanent replacement). These things cannot happen overnight! By not honouring the notice period in your contract, your employer could take action against you for breach of contract and things can get messy. Lord Bracknell is right with his point on re-calculation of paid leave that you have taken.

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This is a key point. Your employer "could" take you to court but all they can claim would be their losses due to you not working your notice. Now those losses will depend on your job and how your employer reacts. Let's say they decide they can't do without anyone doing your job so hire a temp. As it's short notice and a short contract that temp might well cost double what they would have paid you over the same period. They can therefore sue you for the equivalent of these extra costs plus court costs. Let's for arguments sake say your notice period is a month and your employer pays you £1k a month. In the above example they could sue you for £1k plus around £200 in costs. Can you afford that ?

A key point is whether you will be wanting to use this employer as a future referee. If "yes" then work your notice and do it by the book, leave on good terms. If "no" then leave when you want and take the hit, your employer will only pay you up for time worked and will not consider themselves bound by any clause in your contract regarding notice pay. They are unlikely to withhold pay for days worked though if you really wind them up they may try this as well as withholding any accrued annual leave entitlement. On balance always best to leave on good terms.

arkan said:

My boss doesnt know i am quitting (yet), i would just like to know if i can feasibly just tell him to stick his job where the sun doesnt shine come wednesday or should i really just hand him a letter of resignation and work my notice.

As i am suppose to be working Christmas Day (for the 3rd year in a row) i would prefer the answer to be the former.

Thankyou in advance

Click to expand...

Only you can answer this question, Gus, err, I mean "arkan."

I cant go into too much detail of what i do, mainly because a fellow employee made an post on a forum laying into the company (G4S, though i have nothing to do with security) and somehow the company found out and made him 'pay' (was on a zero hour contract and sacked him on the spot)

First off. I havent taken more paid leave than i should of. I have 22 days a year paid leave entitled to me. I am taking 4 days paid leave next week which was arranged and signed off months ago and i still have 5 days 'owed' to me before the end of the year.

The role that i do means it would be impossible for the firm to hire agency staff as the job is too technical to arrange someone to feasibly replace me in a short amount of time. It will just mean the 'relief' member of staff will have to do my shifts rather than the ones he usually does.

My notice period to the company is four weeks and four weeks notice they have to give to me if they wanted to get rid of me. The trouble is the job is making me physically and mentally unwell. Only today one of my colleagues in the office was signed off sick for 2 weeks due to stress (and she isnt putting it on like some people might)

I obviously dont expect them to pay me for days i wont be working if i do quit. But i do want to be paid for the days i have worked AND the four days annual leave stated above.

In answer to if i knew this was on the horizon. No i didnt. Basically the company have taken a new contract on. Though we were aware of this from around a month ago, we were verbally told we would have no dealings what so ever with this contract and all business would be done 'in house' at the contract site. It was only when i started my shift over the weekend that this was a total lie and that indeed our office would be running the contract 24/7. Again not going into too much detail my job is round the clock busy as it is and patently under staffed, thus this substancial extra work is almost impossible to deal with, especially when i am by myself 'out of hours'

In regards to a reference, G4S as a company dont give official references. They just give out basic ones, saying "so and so work from this date to here". I have already got round this by getting another manager who i know from outside of work who i know doesnt take the company line on these kind of things to sort out one for me.

I have my resignation letter written up all i need to do is date and sign it, i will ask for the notice period to be shortened but even if its not im 99% sure i will not return after my annual leave just for the sake of my sanity.

I honestly dont know much about these kind of things and havent been in this situation before. Thankyou for the replies so far. And any further guidance would be most appreciated. I really cba going to the citizens advice beaureu if i can help it.