How much notice?

[Goff]

Hi everyone.

 

I am in the process of seeking other employment.

 

The reasons being that I am unhappy in my current job and have been told it may not be safe anyway

as work has recently been lost by the company.

 

I work away from home all week at the moment and was going to move my family to be with me in July,

however i cannot take the risk I may not have a job by October or that i may have a job but somewhere else in the UK.

 

This would mean selling our home and moving our kids out of school at GCSE time for a job that is not cast iron, so you can see my predicament.

 

I have the chance of another job near home but my current employment contract states i have to give 12 weeks notice.

 

I have been here 7 months, 6 of those were probationary.

 

I know if i am offered this other job, they will not wait 12 weeks.

 

What i want to know is,

 

is there anyway i can give less notice?

 

I need another job before i leave this one,

but 12 weeks seems a lot and i know prospective employers will not wait that long.

 

I am desperate to get back home to my family.

 

Thanks.

[dx100uk]

aslk your present employer if they will cooperate with you.

 

dx

[Goff]

Who would i approach dx? Its notoriously difficult to recruit staff for the area I am in so i know my immediate manager would not agree to this

[Emmzzi]

do you have any non compete clauses in your contract? If not, I'd be tempted to take the gamble of them suing for expenses covering your role.

 

If they have lost work, they may be happy enough to let you go early.

[Goff]

What do you mean by non compete clauses Emmzzi?

[Emmzzi]

as in "you may not work for a competitor within 100 miles for a period of 12 months", anything like that?

[SabreSheep]

Other ways to reduce the notice.

 

you have 7/12 of your annual holiday entitlement earned upto this point. Thats holiday + Bank holiday entitlement.

 

How much of this have you taken?

 

Bearing in mind that they should pay you any entitlement not taken when you resign you could ask to use outstanding holiday to shorted the "notice"

[SabreSheep]

aaah wait i forgot to take into account when your holiday year begins and ends

 

but the idea remains the same

[Goff]

It says that for a period of 9 months following effective date of termination i will not be engaged or employed by any business which competes or is about to compete with the the company.

The company i have the possibility of employment with is a similar business and COULD compete with my current employer...but i cannot be out of work for 9 months!

[Goff]

sabresheep, i am entitled to 25 days and have taken 16 already.

 

oooh and it starts April 6th

[Emmzzi]

However, you agreed to the clause by signing the contract?

 

You really do need to have a conversation with the boss, I reckon. Or your union?

[Goff]

Yes unfortunately i did. If i had known the job was nothing like i had been led to believe I would have run away very quickly!

[becky2585]

If there's no geographical scope on the non competition clause, it's highly unlikely to be enforceable.

 

I also suspect that "about to compete" is too wide and too ambiguous a restriction to be valid.

[steampowered]

Hi Goff, two questions. (1) are you in a senior position with access to confidential information which could be used against this company by its competitor, and (2) if you left your position early would the company have provable economic loss as a direct result of you not working?

 

If the answer to either question is yes then exercise caution. If the answer to both questions is no then I would say give as much notice as possible and go for it (although there is always a risk that a vindictive boss will bring a court claim or try to cause trouble with your new employer, if he knows who it is).