Moving at short notice and hanging in notice to work

[ODFOkaren]

We have to move 200 miles away.

Unfortunately as we are at the mercy of landlords and estate agents, we aren’t going to have much notice.

We are going through referencing on a new place at the moment but it’s all been held up as the estate agent has been closed for two weeks over Xmas.

Dh is going up there tomorrow to see them in person, chase everything up etc.

Because it’s all up in the air I haven’t given notice at work. I’ve had rental properties fall through before and we can’t live where we are if I’m not working and living here we claim top up housing benefit which means that if I had given notice before now and was still living here while we were waiting to move or if it fell through it would have caused a lot of problems. (We won’t need any help when we do move as the rent is a quarter of the price where we are going).

I am supposed to give 4 weeks notice at work but we might get the go ahead tomorrow to move in two weeks.

Being so far away I can’t travel for work (it’s minimum wage care work, a weeks pay wouldn’t even cover the travel for one day).

I have no holiday let and I am off work sick this week and have been told I’ll be signed off for the next two (SSP as we don’t get sick pay where I work) as I’ve got pneumonia and other complications with it).

Hopefully will get a contract for the new house end of this week or beginning of next but I am loathe to hand in my notice before I have that in my hand just incase I leave my self unemployed.

I know I might have to take the hit and they can recoup their ‘costs’ by keeping my final Months pay - is this something they can do?

Yes, you can just walk out of your job, resigning on the spot. BUT there may be financial repercussions and it may also mean you end up owing your employer money.

@SoloMummy and that’s why I can’t hand I
My notice until the tennacy is secured. I can’t risk making myself unemployed if the new house falls through.

@Clangus00 well Not to be glib they currently owe me £700 in holiday pay!

I worked a month in hand - if they didn’t pay me the months pay if I gave notice it wouldn’t be the end of the world. We are going from 2.1k a month in rent (it’s a shithole, not a mansion) to £550 so we can recover from it quickly.

But if you have to pay your way out of the current rental contract, why dont you continue to live in the old house, and work out your notice, while DH and the teen move into the new house? Yes, it is less than ideal to not be together, but for the sake of a few weeks...

@kitten if it was a good, better paid job and they had treated me well I’d consider it IF that was what we were negotiating with the LL. currently we are negotiating leaving ASAP to reduce what we pay for ending the contract (we are signed until April, they say the best way is to be out ASAP so the property can be rented right away and it will go fast).

I also have two younger kids to sort new
Schools for and DH has work, two days a week in London.

So I guess my option is to call my boss when I get the contract and just explain how things are.

In an Ideal world we wouldn’t be moving at all but we can’t afford to be here anymore. Family are luckily bailing us out by lending deposit and contract pay out as they know we’ll be able to pay them back quickly as it’s such a huge difference in rent, council tax etc.

If they've not paid you what they owe you, then they're in breach of contract already.

In theory they can sue you if you walk out. In practice, it's only for financial losses they suffer, which they need to prove, so it's unlikely (but not impossible) it will happen.

But surely the only financial loss would be a months wages to them?

And to be fair, they can sue me all they like I’m broke.

If they paid you the missing December pay check, would that give you enough money to stay in a B&B for the last 2 weeks (or to extend your rental for 2 weeks if that's possible)?

If so, I would go in with that as the negotiation. You're giving in your notice. If you receive your missing paycheck by x date, then you will be able to work your whole notice. If it is still outstanding, then you won't. You'd be surprised what people can pull out of the bag when it's in their interest!

What are you going to do to get the money you are owed if that doesn't happen? Do you have proof of the hours worked etc? Don't let it go!

Oh, and see if you can negotiate paying for the re-letting costs, plus the rent until the new contract starts again. You might get a favourable response.

They are too tight to use agency staff as cover so wouldn’t be doing that in my place.

They won't pay you a month if you walk out. You'll get paid for the work you've done.

And I don't know what your job is to know if there might be a financial loss. I don't think there are many jobs where in the employer actually has a loss as the work is normally done by somebody else.

I have copies of the rota with my Holiday marked on and the holiday forms I filled in. I’m not the first person they have done this to, sadly.

Also, I work shifts so staying somewhere wouldn’t work.

It’s all a mess.

I’m just a care worker in a home for adults by the way. Ten pence above minimum wage.

You can sue them for the missing money. Don't just let it go. Call ACAS tomorrow as they can help you with this.

@NoWordForFluffythats what I meant, sorry.

I worked a month I hand. If I worked notice, I’d get paid that month in hand.

So maybe I could negotiate leaving and then keeping it?

*them keeping it. Massive crack in my screen so so many typos

What's your pay date? If you get paid at the end of the month for that month, then you'll get paid for what you worked in Jan before walking out.

If you mean that you get paid two months in hand (i.e. the money you get in Jan covers December) then that's not a loss as they already owe you it.

Pay date is usually around 20th.

And what does it cover? The whole of the month you're in? What does your contract say? A month in hand normally means you're paid for the month you've just worked, not the month before that. So I get paid on 26th for the whole of that month. I used to get paid on 6th for the whole of the previous calendar month. I've never been paid on, say, 20th Nov, for the work in Oct.

I manage a care service for a charity. We sometimes have people leave without giving full notice, we don't take any financial penalty which might be due under the contract . In care you are usually asked for a full employment history and references are taken for the last 10 years, I would mention in a reference if someone had left without working their full notice, as this can potentially put vulnerable service users at risk of harm. I would never take someone who had done this back.

I’m just at a loss at the moment.

This is just the tip of the iceberg with everything else going on and I really don’t want a fight on my hands with work.

There are a lot of personal reasons why we need to get moved as well. It’s difficult. And like I said, it’s a horrible job with no support, crap pay, no sick pay.

@Astrabees I know how it can be a problem. But I have to put my situation first I’m afraid.

@NoWordForFluffyi haven’t got a copy of the contract to hand at the mo but it’s 4 weekly.

Could you get an extended sick line? You can hand your notice in while off sick? I know this is being dishonest but if I was in a desperate situation it's what I would do. That way you can remain employed and fulfil your notice period.