To work these notice periods are ridiculous?

[Duckingella]

Company DH works for has a new owner;new order has issued new contracts.

DH has read new contract after receiving it this morning and found that the new owner wants a notice period of 6 weeks for employees who have been there less than one month and 12 weeks for those there more than one month.

I personally feel a 12 week notice period basically make it impossible for anyone to get a new job as not many potential employers would be prepared to wait 3 months to fill a position once a job offer is made.

As above 6 weeks is still a long time to wait.

I think a more reasonable notice period should be 1 week for less than a months service and 4 weeks after that.

As soon as I got to a middle management post, it's been 3 months. Absolutely standard in my sector (Higher Education.)

It's fine having a three month notice period if you are in a more senior position where that is the norm. You won't be at a disadvantage when applying for new jobs as all candidates will have the same terms.

However OP has said this is much longer than normal for her DH's job level and industry so it would be a barrier to getting another job as most other candidates would be able to start much sooner. I would think this would be regarded as an unfair contract term as it limits the employee's ability to change jobs. Though IANAL but have come across these situations before. In practice the employer generally knows this and is willing to negotiate an earlier leave date in return for a good handover.

If I was your DH I would push back on this clause and point out it is unfair and probably unenforceable in this industry.

All of my jobs had 3 month notice periods.

TUPE? Didn’t P&O Ferries appalling treatment of their staff show this is a nonsense?

3-6 calendar months in my sector, 3 for less senior and 6 for senior.

It really depends on the type of role.

It not unusual for it to be a 9 month recruitment process (from advert to start date) for senior posts in HE.

3 months is fairly standard. when I left my last job I gave the 1 month notice required in my contract. My line manager said it wasn’t giving them enough time to replace me. I pointed out that if they had given me a better contract (which was available) I would have had to give them the 3 months. Teachers have to give half a term’s notice. Some firms don’t make staff work the 3 months but send them on gardening leave so the knowledge they take with them is not quite so up to date.

Mine has always been 3 months in my sector

It protects him, if there were changes and he was let go they'd have to pay him 3 months. Most likely if he handed his notice in they'd agree for him to leave sooner and he'd agree to waive his notice , something like that.

3 months standard at my grade and accepted by HR depts as the default

Three months for senior roles I can understand and accept. The notice period for someone in their first month seems over the top and to be honest some people would just abandon the job or be off sick for some of it.

There are plenty of companies who do things the right way. I know people who have gained from TUPE, as when they have been assimilated to their new employer's payscale, they have been moved to the next notch up the heirarchy in order to preserve their pay & benefits.

3 months I standard in my industry and my last notice period was 6 months. It was a nightmare as my last boss made me work it even though in reality they didn't need to make me do so.

In my new job, it's the same notice period. Let's hope I don't move for a while yet!

@StarlightLady TUPE? Didn’t P&O Ferries appalling treatment of their staff show this is a nonsense?

Quite the opposite! It showed how valuable and needed TUPE is. Certain maritime workers are excluded from TUPE and other EU employment directives. There’s also an issue of “flags of convenience” - the enquiry showed that P&O fulfilled duties required by Cyprus and Bermuda, for example. The maritime industry has long since dodged the law with such loopholes.

3 months seems pretty standard wherever I have worked - most people manage to negotiate it down a bit, so ends up being 2 months from date of notice being given.
enough time to ensure a decent handover and completion of work

We had this in my office.

The industry norms are
Execs 1 month
Managers 1-2 months
Directors have 3 months

Management were freaking out about churn so they tried to reissue exec and manager contracts under the guide of entity name change so everyone was on 3months.

Clearly it was spotted.

Collectively a large group went back and said they werent signing. Management backed off eventually.

Thanks for this; helpful! Sadly l remember all the seemingly appropriate noises that were made by government at the time. And then what happened next; nothing.

Mine is 3 months, standard for anyone in a managerial position.

I’m on 3 months now. My last role was 6 months but they wanted it to be 1 year!!! Totally normal.

3 months for me. And yes, it's a LOOONG time 🙂

Mine is three months the reality is they want you gone asap

A three month notice period is great - it means if he is ever let go or made redundant, they have to pay him three months salary as his notice period.

You will also find that many companies are happy to negotiate notice periods if he wanted to leave.

I'm in a junior, poorly paid, position, and on three months. In reality, What would happen if you left after a shorter period?

They can't just unilaterally change a contractual term, it is breaching his current contract.

You'd be in breach of contract and theoretically your employer could sue you to recover the costs of any additional expenses they incurred as a result of your actions (e.g. cost of temps or overtime to cover your duties). Is that likely? Perhaps not - but it's certainly a risk and I know some employers who are petty enough to do it.

IME 3m contracts exist in industries where usually there is a risk of intellectual property being shared, so employee is usually given garden leave immediately upon being let go/resigning.

Gov website link attached that sets out rules re changing contracts when you are bought out etc It says there are specific circumstances when/how they can be changed.

https://www.gov.uk/transfers-takeovers/transfers-of-employment-contracts#:~:text=The%20new%20employer%20can%20change,to%20agree%20to%20this%20change.