Hoping some gurus can offer some advice on an issue I am about to have. Rewind back about 1.5 years or so the company I work for was sold and I got a new contract but this one had an 8 week notice period of I wanted to leave. 2 of us that was give this contract ((By the temp GM) did not agree to it as the current contract was 4 weeks. In the end it was never dealt with and we heard nothing back despite asking over a few months for it to be sorted. A new GM came in and time went on. Around September last year I said I was going to be looking for a new Job as I can not continue to work nights much longer. I had a few interviews but the 8 weeks notice was blocking me from getting a new job as new employers did not want to wait that long, Fair enough 8 weeks is a long time. So I said to my boss and GM that 8 weeks is to much and I will have to give 4 as per my original contract. They said ok to this as long as they could find my replacement in that time. Ugh. Today, I got a job offer which I have accepted, But after telling my boss I was told I may have to work for 8 weeks. Hmm.. So since the contract issue was never dealt with back when this 8 week malarkey came about I have a plan of attack after reading up on contracts for employment and the laws around them and would like some input. If a contract is changed mid-employment and the employee does not agree to the change and the employer will not budge you will have to quit your job as per the terms in your current contract (In my case, 4 weeks). So I will pass this info on to them. The way I see it, If they want to play hardball here I can play harder. They need me not the other way round. I don't want to make life hard for anyone but I really need this new day job for the future of my health which is bad as it is and night work only makes things worse. I will give them 4 weeks notice, If they say its 8 weeks as per the contract. (That I refused to agree to at the time and was never dealt with) I will tell them that I do not agree to the change from 4 to 8 weeks and give them 4 weeks notice as per my original contract. So still 4 weeks either way. I am hoping it does not come to this but I want to be ready if it does. Thoughts? Suggestions? TL;DR I want to leave job for a new one they may want 8 weeks notice I want to give 4 as per my original contract.
Where do you live? Contact laws vary between countries. Edit: see it now. Sorry should have clicked your profile before posting. I'm not sure of the rules there. (ignore my post)
If you have 4 weeks in your contract and haven't signed a new contract since you started, your notice period is 4 weeks. In the UK, statutory notice period is one week if you've been employed for over one month but less than 2 years. It goes to two weeks if you've worked for the employer for over 2 years continuously, after which it's an additional week for each completed year. Your contract can state otherwise, but if you have 4 weeks in your contract, you don't have to do any more than that. I'd just leave, they could take you to court if you signed a contract where it states that your notice period is 8 weeks but they're not going to do anything.
First: ask for a current copy of this "new" contract. If there is a clause in it that states by continuing employment and/or accepting pay that you automatically agree to the new terms; you may be up that proverbial creek. Did the original contract expire already? If the original contract expired and you never agreed to and signed a new one (depending on above)...You are not under any contract. Run that thought by a lawyer first.
As Meta said - if you haven't signed a contract that states an 8 week notice period is necessary, you are not obligated to abide by it. You may also want to revisit the original contract, and if there are any mentions of subsequent contracts..
I had a contract, The business was sold, I was given a new one to sign. I did not sign it. I was never given a revised contract with 4 weeks notice.
Just because the business was sold does not render the original contract null and void unless there is wording in it that states upon sale the contract becomes such. See if any legal professionals are willing to offer an opinion. Make sure that that "new" contract is not considered enforceable based upon tacit acceptance by continuing on there. Implicit acceptance is not always needed.
Here, dk would be still employee of previous employer. (And they may owe him money from legal perspective.) If previous employer ceased to exist, then he would be unemployed. @dk_lightning : If you did not sign paper stating that you are going to work for new entity, they are sending you money just from their kindness. And as you tell them, they have to go to legal department 1st. Because you practically perform illegal work for them. Yes, they pay taxes from your salary, but you had no business being there. Your contract states place where you work, general type of work you are supposed to do, and entity you are supposed to do this work for. Even change of address requires update of contract signed by you, otherwise everyone would be sending undesirable employees to Alaska. In worst case scenario you are going to have some not so pleasant talk with government office dealing with employment registration.
Well, since working contract law is a national thing to regulate, I can only tell you how it's here in Austria: First of all, you have an agency that you can call in such things, they have lawyers that give you advice on, first hour being free of charge, called the "Arbeiterkammer" (literally worker's chamber). Does something like that exist in the UK? Basically I agree with you, if you never signed a new contract with 8 weeks, they can hardly call you to hold up to it. Since they never reacted to the voicing of your complains about those new contracts and the 8 weeks, it doesn't look like you actually have a new contract, so the old one's conditions are the only ones that apply. I wouldn't see where suddenly they put down any contract paper, you complain and not sign it, and yet it is factually working this way. I believe you're safe to say you got 4 weeks of notice period.
Well, nothing has happened so far.. But my boss is on Holiday at the moment. My job is advertised and they have had some applications so with some luck i will be trainning my replacement within the next 10 days or so. Needs to be then as I will finish on the morning of the 10th! June.
contracts even in the uk, are the fine textural points of bias between two or more parties. contrary to popular television one side can not arbitrary decide to change the contract mid way through. Now here is the most important point, if a company is sold the name changes, to warn people that the person holding the ethics of the company is a new person. If a corporation the name can be separate of the controlling entity or people in question but employees are never required to follow a company or corporation when it is sold. Just remember that the company you are switching is going likely find out how you leave. Now the fun happens so in the UK you the magistrate system and peer system. That means when you are confused or wondering who you can ask for help, you find a peer and tell them the truth and they should be able to point you in the direction of legal or government people that get paid to sort those issues out. In theory a minister is a minister, they are people like all the rest of us, so they may not know the answer, they may have aids that feel they are too special to help people, and dozen of other issues, but as long as people are working those services are there if not over burdened by people arguing over the same bloody cow, a decade later hoping the peer forget who they were. Peers have taken the bar are expect to live up what ever standard the office of protocol is telling us we need to say. Start local and only ask for what is ethical and you should be able to get it sorted out. Remember it my not be the company or corporation that you work for that is asking for new contract or terms but a HR manager or floor manager (general manager) that is trying to build a resume.
