Urgent Advice regarding Employees breach of contract.

[Zebraa]

If an employer is to sue their employee for breach of contract, what fees is the employee looking at paying should their employer win?

[OldLadyKnowsNothing]

That would depend on the lawyers involved.

Could be Quite A Lot.

Sorry, not very helpful, but really it depends on how long the case is drawn out.

[flowerybeanbag]

Do you mean legal fees or compensation?

If legal fees, then what OLKN said.

If compensation, it depends how the contract was (allegedly) breached and what the impact was on the employer.

Are you being sued by your employer for breach of contract? If so I'm guessing it's fairly serious for them to be bothering with legal action over it.

[Zebraa]

It's a friend, she is an office junior and has been with the company 4 years and her contract says 2 months but she wants to give 1 week but they have threatened her with legal action.

What is the likelyhood they will actually proceed to court?

[smittenkitten]

likelihood is very low because they have to demonstrate a financial loss, and they have a duty to mitigate that loss. Very few cases actually go to court, any they are usually very senior. I think they are just trying to intimidate your friend, though they could mention her breach of contract in her reference. however, she did sign a contract and should try to honour it. could she not do a month to tidy things up?

[flowerybeanbag]

Very very unlikely they'll actually take her to court - any financial loss will be miniscule if at all, and certainly not worth legal costs.

However failure to work her notice can and probably will have a negative effect on any reference this employer provides for her next job or any other job.

Can she not work her notice or agree amicably a compromise of a month or similar as smittenkitten suggests?

[annh]

I presume she is going to a new job and they have asked her to start immediately. Therefore, any negativity in her reference is probably not of great concern for this job but may matter again in future. Two months is a long notice period for an office junior job so I can understand her wish to leave earlier. However, unless there are unusual circumstances the company she is going to (still working on the assumption this is a job move) should be prepared to accept that most applicants would have to give that amount of notice and if she is the best person for the job, they will wait - epecially if she makes clear that she is already compromising on the notice period.

[Zebraa]

Yes she has been offered a job to start in a week. They have only threatened it as a possibility so far, like ''if we wanted to, we can legally take you to court for breach of contract''

She is so stressed about it she keeps getting really wound up because the new job is a really good opportunity for her and one she has waited a long time for.

[flowerybeanbag]

If they've said they could take her to court for breach of contract I assume she's already asked them to release her from her notice early? Has she tried to compromise, rather than saying she needs to leave in a week, offering to work half her notice period, a very reasonable month? Asking her new employer to wait a month isn't long at all either and will mark her out as someone who is reliable and fulfils her obligations.

Has she got any holiday left to take that could shorten the time she needs to spend there?

If she hasn't even agreed a start date yet have her new employers actually taken up a reference from her current employer yet? If not, then agreeing something on an amicable basis is crucial.