To think he can't just leave his job?

[Oneeata]

DS starts a new job 1st November. He only has to give a weeks notice in his current job but has said he might just hand his notice in and not go back after that.
He absolutely hates the place he's in at the moment and to be fair to him they really have messed him about over the last 2/3 months or so, telling him no work on so would have to use lieu days to cover as not enough holiday entitlement accrued, going in to start a back shift and being sent home to come back and do a nightshift and other issues (still not good enough reason to just jack in)
I know he's a grown ass man and can make his own decisions (mostly mistakes imho) but surely he can't expect to not go back without any ramifications? I'm thinking it could come back and bite him should he need a reference from them at any point in the future. Plus I know it'll cause ructions between him and DH. I'm trying to get him to see sense and that he has commitments that he needs to keep to but he's like a dog with a bloody bone insisting "it'll be alright!" and that he owes them no loyalty.
I just think he's being stupid and stubborn.

He's 23... let him decide

[quote CAMHShelp]@Strangevipers that’s a myth. They can give negative references and the chance of an individual seeing the reference and being able to sue a company is very slim.[/quote]
only if they (company) genuinely believe it to be true ( to give a negative ref) and accurate and have reasonable grounds for that belief.

Which OP said the company has messed him around

Whatever the company have or haven’t done doesn’t prevent them from writing a factual reference.

Hang on, it sounds like he's on a zero hours contract, if they're not providing him with regular work?

If so there's no mutuality of obligation. He can simply refuse any shifts they offer him.

his approach makes me wince but the employers behave badly so the workers respond in kind

And so many here are validating the employers behaviour by not penalising them for it, indeed encouraging their kids to reward the bad employers, if there's no penalty, there's no motivation to change.

Of course it is sometimes possible that you have to do something that is not in your best interest or risk getting another job - but given he's already got another job the risk is very low.

[quote Strangevipers]@NavigatingAdolescence

only if they genuinely believe it to be true and accurate and have reasonable grounds for that belief.
Which according to OP they don't they have messed him around

Plus the consequence of lying for the company is getting sued and in the is circumstance they have nothing to gain

[/quote]
Them messing him around doesn't mean that a reference saying he failed to complete his contractual notice period would be untrue.

@NavigatingAdolescence

Whatever the company have or haven’t done doesn’t prevent them from writing a factual reference.

Correct.

But writing a factual negative reference after the companies behaviour isn't wise and wouldn't be worth their time . That is my point

@DysmalRadius

As above

writing a factual negative reference after the companies behaviour isn't wise and wouldn't be worth their time . That is my point

But why isn't it wise? There's no comeback on his current employers from his potential new job, no matter what they have done!

Try to distill what he ‘owes’ in terms of loyalty and what he committed to in his employment contract. Going back on terms of employment can damage his reputation and even if it is ‘ok’ in terms of repercussions it doesn’t set a good precedent

He isn't on zero hours. He is contracted 39 hours a week. There had been a hold up with shipping of some of the materials they use a firstly in the first week in August. He went into work on a Monday and got told at the end of his shift there was not enough work for his line for the rest of the week. He had the choice to take unpaid leave, holiday or in lieu. Because he had only become a permanent employee in April he had not accrued sufficient holidays to take paid, he chose to work it back in lieu rather than having only one days pay. Then the same situation occurred second week in September and again last week. He went in one day to start work on a back shift at 4.30pm and got told they were changing the shift to a night shift that week and to go home and come back in for 11pm. He's gone in a few separate occasions and found he was the only one in and had to run the line alone when there's usually six of them. He's just pissed off with it all and I understand his reasons but like I said before don't want him to burn his bridges as you never know🤷.

@sirfredfredgeorge

his approach makes me wince but the employers behave badly so the workers respond in kind

And so many here are validating the employers behaviour by not penalising them for it, indeed encouraging their kids to reward the bad employers, if there's no penalty, there's no motivation to change.

Of course it is sometimes possible that you have to do something that is not in your best interest or risk getting another job - but given he's already got another job the risk is very low.

Exactly - I am sick of the race to the bottom mentality of a lot of people - it stinks.

As for the “no gaps” stuff - gaps are generally fine if explained and one so short probably wouldn’t even be noticed - mostly the “no gaps” rules are looking for people who have been in prison.

I’d encourage him to give notice and work it it’s only a week. He could ask if he could be leave without notice they may release him. If they are shitty with him then call in sick. It’s a small world and you never know if you need a ref or come across someone from there. It’s a shame to mess up a reference for sake of a week if he’s been there 19m.

I did similar with a call centre job- just walked out and didn’t go back. Best decision I ever made and it felt amazing.

Luckily it was company policy to only provide dates of employment and reference requests are made to straight to HR as opposed to the line manager I cleared my desk in front of and walked past on my way to the bus stop. I’ve changed jobs a few times since then and never had any issues.

I’m in HR now and if asked for a reference I’ll only provide dates- it’s not worth the hassle of getting into extra details.