DH left a job without giving the right amount of notice now they haven't paid him for work done.

[inadreamworld]

Hope someone can help. My DH quit his job before Christmas giving one months notice. His contract requires him to give two months notice. He hated the job and found another one which needs him to start early in Jan. His former employers were angry when he quit and have not paid him for this month (December). He has worked all of December. Are they entitled to do this? He is of the opinion to leave it and move on but I wondered if there is anything we can do. He has breached his contract too so maybe we should leave it and cut our losses. He really did hate the job and is glad to be out. Not being paid leaves money a bit tight but we can scrape by.

Has he checked his contract? Some companies have financial penalties in their contracts for leaving before the end of their notice period.

I would assume that the month he hasn't been paid for is the month's notice he didn't work. As far as I am aware that's standard practice

On the face of it, it sounds like an unlawful deduction from wages. I suggest the first step is to query it with the company. Has he received a payslip explaining the deductions?

I would have thought that if his 2 months notice meant he should have been ending at the end of Jan but instead left at the end of Dec then they should pay him for the work he did in Dec however my understanding is If they can prove that they lost money through you not working your notice period, they can sue you their loss of earnings for that period. Obviously that is an extreme response.

My best advice is head down to Citizens advice and ask them for some proper advice on the situation. It seems unfair not to pay him for work done however he has breached the contract

Thank you - wow didn't expect any replies so quickly!! I should know that MNetters are always speedy though. DH is pretty willing to let it go and not do anything- I was just a bit annoyed about it as I did the same thing a few years ago and I was still paid.

He is entitled to be paid for the days he has worked. However, your husband's employer is entitled to recover any losses they suffer as a result of him not serving out his notice. So, for example, if they have to take on a temp to cover January they are entitled to recover any difference between what they have to pay the temp and what they would have paid your husband.

I would certainly query the lack of pay for December.

It used to be that the only notice you had to give was 1 month if you were paid monthly, 1 week if you were paid weekly.

DH was entitled to 3 months notice from his employer. He spent some of the time waiting for exchange of contracts for our house sale reading the small print in his conditions of service. After 36 years' service (and being treated like shit for most of that time) he only had to work 4 weeks' notice. That's what he gave.