Hi

I start my new employment in august and have given my notice for the 3rd August as my finish day today i was asked to come into the office and as usual asking me to reconsider dont know why i would as the company gives me a constant head ache.

They sat down and said to me that they are not willing to wait 10 weeks for me to leave the business and said i have to give a maximum of 4 weeks notice which should be done today and sent by tonight to state my end of employment should be 25th June 2018

I am not ready to leave in June and have 2 children i need to provide for a car to pay and rent to pay.

Am i in my rights to give them ten weeks notice or are they right in what they say.

By the sounds of it they havent accepted my notice for 10 weeks so they see me as continuing my employment until i settle another notice.

If i give them 4 weeks notice am i in my rights to hand them this 1st July to finish 1st August

Thanks

Please check your contract of employment and tell us the exact wording of the notice period. Does it say something like "you must give 4 weeks notice" or "you must give at least/not less than 4 weeks notice"? If it is the former they could argue it must be exactly 4 weeks. If the latter then I don't think they are entitled to do what they have done.

Agree with the above - and you should really have checked before handing in your notice if you didn't - the answer will be in your contract. If it specifies a particular notice period (in this case 10 weeks) then they must pay you for this irrespective of whether they require you to work or not. If however the required notice is only four weeks then they are within their rights to ask you to leave earlier (or to be on garden leave for some or all of that time)

Would there be an option to approach the new employer for an earlier start date?

Just to add - do you have two years employment? Because if not they are perfectly entitled to give YOU notice! They can dismiss you for almost any reason they like.

Why did you give then 10 weeks notice?

I have had a scan through my contract and it mentions about garden leave but im not that well educated on the term garden leave.

I gave my notice early as i wanted it all out of the way and then i could just sit back until i left my current employment up to now he has not accepted the notice and told me to give 4 weeks but by the sounds of it i could just hand this to them on 3rd July and finish on 3rd August.

After looking through my contract there was nothing about leaving the business on my own accord and about the amount of notice i have to give to the company.

reason i am asking for advice because this company has bent more employment rules than any other business i have ever worked for not to mention the wage dropping dispute which i settled with them out of court and eventually got my money back dated off them and my new rates increased to what they should of been 12 months i worked under this dispute.

could anybody clarify what garden leave is

Thanks

Also been working for this company since June 2013

Unfortuatnly cannot start my new employment early as i am going on holiday in July to Majorca and they require me to be in work for 3 months due to training and buddying in the field thats why my start date is August

Garden leave is basically where you have given notice but the employer does not want you to work it. They have to pay you for the contractual notice period so you stay at home, being paid for 'gardening'

Doesn't really apply to your case. If your contract does not require three months notice to be given then the employer can ask you to leave after 4 weeks. Of course if they want you to leave tomorrow then they will still have to pay for those four weeks so you would then be considered on 'gardening leave' until the end of the notice period

well, your employer has appeared to accept that your notice has been given and as for not accepting it, they cant refuse it so it looks as though they are confused about what they require and what the law requires.

Notice period is a MINIMUM anyway so you have said you are off on ther 3rd aug and there is nothing they can do about that. What has been said is that if you had less than 2 years service they could just tell you to go now and not have to pay you until august but as it stands they have to give you a months notice anyway and appear to be happy that you work your notice, hence not putting you on paid enforced absence. You say "he has not accepted my notice" etc without indicating who "he" is.

Best just keep quite and plod along until your holiday time then. Have you checked up on your paid leave entitlement as you dont ant to be arguing over this on your last day there.