Contract - termination of employment

[leslety]

Hi all, was wondering if you could give me some advice please as my CAB has gone awol Sorry if this is long.

 

I've been at my job now since November 2006. I applied for a student job which was part-time obviously. In the whole time I've been there I've never had a contract, none of the staff have. My boss told us they've all been waiting for a contract for the past three years and then we recently just got one a few weeks ago.

 

I've read the contract and it states under 'Termination of Employment' that four weeks notice by either party is required to terminate your employment. Now here's my problem, I haven't signed this contract yet because I had a job interview a few weeks ago and I got the job so I told the lady who interviewed me that I would start August 18th but as that is only under 2 weeks away, if I sign the contract then I've agreed to giving four weeks notice (which I can't do anyway) but if I've not signed it, and refuse to do so, can they take any action against me? I've never had any problems with this company (it's a family based, independent retailer's), I've always got along with them but they've been known to get a bit funny when it comes to things like this and I have a feeling they won't let me go on one weeks notice but I figure since it's only a student job that one weeks notice is plenty? They can't force me to sign the contract, can they? Obviously since I have this new job I'm safe in that sense but I'd hate to leave on a bad note as I really like these people despite their daft ways of dealing with this sort of thing. They've been chasing me about the contract and want it on Friday but instead of my contract they'll be getting my weeks notice hehe.

 

I just have a funny feeling they'll hold my wages back or maybe even tell me to leave on Friday when I hand in my notice which I'd rather they didn't because I really need to work up until August 15th as I'll be going from weekly pay to monthly pay and need to keep myself until my first wage. So in short: Is there anything they can do? It's not a case that I'm refusing to sign the contract just to be funny, they've just not been very loyal and yet I have so I just don't feel like I owe them any favours. So advice would be massively appreciated, thank you

Edited August 6, 2008 by leslety
forgot to add important info

[BeauBrummie]

Hi leslety,

 

Whatever you or your employer say about signing a contract, you were both governed by the "Employment Rights Act" the moment you started working for the company. The ERA gives statutory periods of notice for both sides.

 

This link will help with more detail,

Contracts of employment: introduction : Directgov - Employment

 

For your length of service a statutory minimum notice period of 1 week is enough in writing.

 

Beau

[leslety]

Hi leslety,

 

Whatever you or your employer say about signing a contract, you were both governed by the "Employment Rights Act" the moment you started working for the company. The ERA gives statutory periods of notice for both sides.

 

This link will help with more detail,

Contracts of employment: introduction : Directgov - Employment

 

For your length of service a statutory minimum notice period of 1 week is enough in writing.

 

Beau

 

Ah thank you for that link!

 

I've had a read about and it says, "Give your employer the right amount of notice. By law, you must give one week's notice if you've worked for your employer for a month or more. Your contract may demand longer."

 

My contract does demand that I give four weeks notice but if I haven't signed the contract, and don't sign it at all, does this mean that the one week is plenty of notice? And they can't take any action against me for not signing it?

 

Thank you:p

[elche]

My contract does demand that I give four weeks notice but if I haven't signed the contract

 

You worked there from Nov 06 under implied contract of employment. New contrcats came and you never signed them. I would argue the new contract is a unilateral change to your T & C's which was never accepted by you and is therefore not binding.

 

the only weakness in your case is that having been given the new contract you continued to work there for 'a few weeks' If i represented your employer i would argue that having been given the new contract you either had to, reject it and resign or continue working, but making it clear this was under protest. Having done neither of these you have accepted by your actions.

 

All things considered I think you have a stronger case than your employer.

[leslety]

I understand what you're saying, I didn't think of that. Mind you, it states on this website I'm on that I should have been given my Employee Contract and Written Particulars of Employment after 2 months of working there but that's me just roughly about 21/22 months in the job and only just receiving it so if they could use what you're saying against me, surely I could use that against them?? I dunno, it's probable that nothing will come of it and they'll be fine with one weeks notice, I'm just preparing myself for a fight just incase. Thanks for your help!

[elche]

This is from an earlier post of mine:

 

You should within 8 weeks of commencing employment have received a written statement of particulars that should include information including:

remuneration and the intervals at which it is to be paid; hours of work; any many other items.

 

If you attempt to enforce the terms of this agreement e.g. pay, and are dimissed for doing so, you can claim unfair dismissal without needing the normal one year service qualification.

 

Thus yes you are right you could use this against them. I forget the precise sanction for this head of claim right now ... it could be 8 weeks wages... ?

[leslety]

Also, am I entitled to holiday pay for holidays I haven't yet taken this year? I've literally had no more than one weeks holiday so far this year so will I be entitled to the other remaining weeks?

[leslety]

This is from an earlier post of mine:

 

You should within 8 weeks of commencing employment have received a written statement of particulars that should include information including:

remuneration and the intervals at which it is to be paid; hours of work; any many other items.

 

If you attempt to enforce the terms of this agreement e.g. pay, and are dimissed for doing so, you can claim unfair dismissal without needing the normal one year service qualification.

 

Thus yes you are right you could use this against them. I forget the precise sanction for this head of claim right now ... it could be 8 weeks wages... ?

 

Ahhh yes of course. 8 weeks would probably make sense. I'll only be using this against them if they start any crap with me, don't want to cower into a corner, for a change I'd like to stand up for myself if the situation arises. I repeat, thank you!

[elche]

Also, am I entitled to holiday pay for holidays I haven't yet taken this year? I've literally had no more than one weeks holiday so far this year so will I be entitled to the other remaining weeks?

 

IN a word ... yes.

 

5 day a week worker = 4.8 weeks paid holiday each year. Again a stat right that cannot be overidden.

 

Please click the scales if I've helped.

[leslety]

Clicked the scales

 

However, I'm not a 5 day a week worker, only during term holidays do I ever work 5 days a week. I've mostly been a part-timer in my time there so does that make a difference? I had a load of holidays I didn't take last year and they had to end up paying me a lorra lorra cash cos of it so I'm surmising they'll do the same when I leave?

[elche]

Again from an earlier post:

 

ell I asked someone at work to explain this to me today as I hate trying to work out Holiday Pay (ahh Maths!)

 

The 12 week rolling average is right.

 

To work out time owed apparently is -

 

(No. of hours worked in 12 week period / 100) X 10.17 = No. of hours holiday owed for the 12 weeks worked (figure A).

 

NB The 10.17 assumes 24 days holiday per year this figure is 12.07 for 28

 

Then you work out the average gross pay per hour in this 12 week period

and multiply this by the result at figure A above. This should equal the holiday pay owed to you for the 12 week period in question.

 

If this is wromg then forgive me as I hate working out holiday pay; also for your situation you maybe could do this for a series of 12 week periods if you have the records

[leslety]

Thanks, I'll try and work that out soon!!

 

So when I hand in my one weeks notice tomorrow, everything should be alright because they can't take any action? I haven't signed their contract therefore haven't agreed to giving four weeks notice.