Employment Terminated. When does notice start?

[WearyAnne]

My employment was terminated on 30th September. Had a teams call at 5.30 p.m. to advise me and the confirming letter delivered to me at 8 pm by email saying they would pay me my three months notice with notice starting on 30th. They have paid me for 12 weeks plus 3 days which I make to be 26th December.

1. Can they take the 1st day of notice as being from the 30th seeing I was only formally notified after the end of the working day?

2. If they can start the notice on the 30th surely I should have been paid until the 29th December? Or should I have actually been paid until the 30th Dec? 2 days pay is a lot for me seeing as jobs in my field are very limited.

Sadly I had been there 23 months so no redress 😔

What is your contractual notice - is it expressed as 12 weeks or as 3 months?

if 3 months then th clock stated ticking from 1st October and finishes on 30th December as they didn’t notify you until the end of the day on 30th September. If 12 weeks then they’ve met their obligation

Also you say you’d been there 23 months - is that precise or was is 23 months and some days?

Was this a redundancy situation?

if yes then your notice period counts as part of your length of service, so does the 23 months include the 3 months notice

Notice period was 3 months.

No they advised they had not been happy with my performance. Had not been put on a PIP just terminated and paid in leiu of notice so no benefits for those three months either. Just had to work for a week of the notice to hand over my tasks.

23 months and 1 week

So even if they have put in their letter the notice period starts that day would I have grounds to argue the notice should only start ticking on the 1st? If this is the case then my notice would need to be paid until 31st Dec...correct?

Yes, it doesn’t matter what they’ve put in the letter if the first you were aware was at 8pm on the day.

What does your contract say about pay in lieu- do they have the right to do it? Is it base pay only?

if it was a performance related dismissal, what is their policy on performance/disciplinary and is that policy contractual?

Contact does say no benefits so fair enough. No specifics on performance in the contact as far as I can see. Just want to move on but seems like I can state that notice should have started ticking on the 1st. Thank you.

Your notice starts from the date you were told, even if it was after working hours.
A dismissal takes effect when it’s communicated, and there’s no rule saying it has to be during work time. So yes, they can count 30th September as Day 1 of your notice period.

If they said they were giving you 3 months’ notice, then:

• Notice runs 30 Sept → 29 Dec
• The last day of the notice period would be 29 December,
• Meaning they should pay you up to and including 29 December.

Twelve weeks plus 3 days takes them to 26 December, which is short of the full three months.

You’re absolutely right that you’re missing a couple of days’ pay, and it’s absolutely worth asking them to correct it — especially when money is tight and jobs are scarce.

You are also right that at 23 months you don’t have unfair-dismissal protection, but that doesn’t affect your entitlement to correct notice pay.