Employer refusing notice

[Jewlry]

I handed my notice in on 2nd October with immediate effect due to health reasons. I'd been on long term sick leave (work related) for a while and for me to give the required 4 weeks notice would only have been me remaining on sick leave for another 4 weeks anyway. Employer has now written to me to say that I have to give 4 weeks notice and therefore my last day with them will be on 30th October even though I've already started a new job! Don't understand this at all!

OK, I'll say this slowly, for emphasis.

OP. You. Are. Not. Allowed. To. Resign. With. Immediate. Effect. Unless. The. Company. Agrees. It. Has. Not. Agreed. Therefore. You. Are. Still. Employed. By. Them.

I don't think anyone isn't grasping that sort of scenario whosafraidofabigduckfart as the issue is completely about resignation and it's acceptance. As the OP has not had her immediate notice accepted and has not provided her employer with another fit note to cover her final four weeks, she is in breach of contract no matter how you want to look at it.

There's a lot of ms-information on this thread,
Is there actually anything in your contract for either job which says you can't have other employment? If not, there's not really a problem - you keep your fit note from your Doc saying you aren't fit to work job 1 without reasonable adjustments or alternative work; that doesn't mean that you can't work job 2 if it's very different and the reason why you're signed off from job 1 isn't relevant in job 2.
Yes, you can't resign with immediate effect if you have a 4 week notice period and you haven't agreed a shorter notice period with your employer. It does seem odd on their part, you will be accruing annual leave through your notice period, as you've said you won't be going back to work there for health related issues.

But Stinkbomb the OP no longer has a valid fit note as it has expired so she is AWOL from her current job. That is the issue.

It doesn't sound like it would be hard for her to get a renewed fit note for job 1 though, it sounds perfectly reasonable without knowing anything more than was posted.
The main point I think re breach of contract is whether she can work in job 2 while still being employed by job 1 for these next few weeks; fir whatever reason, job 1 want to keep her on the payroll & off sick rather than agreeing to her immediate resignation .

I'm intrigued that you're so confident you're never ever going to need a reference from them.

Same! In my line of work all employees are required to undergo strict security and background checks which include employment references going back
10 years 😳😳

The fact is you must give four weeks notice and you haven't done this. Whatever the ins and outs of your sick note and fitness to work are you are still in breach of your contract for not giving the correct notice. Not sure what the penalty for this is. Perhaps they can withhold holiday pay, refuse a reference. You will have to check. This is going to look very bad on your employment record.

OP, I'm quoting one of your earlier posts here.

HR advised me if I resigned with immediate effect at any time it was unlikely they would pursue given the circumstances. Manager asked me to remain on sick leave

Note the word unlikely. They didn't say it was OK - quite the opposite. They said it was unlikely they would purse which is a clear indication that it would not be accepted!

If you have told your new employer that your resignation was accepted you are going to have some explaining to do when you hand in your P45 that shows you were still working for the previous company.

@Jewlry you can sort this all out quite simply, but you do need to listen to advice.

Presumably, job 1 and job 2 are different. Job 2 meets the criteria that the doctor stated on your previous fit notes? Therefore, what you can do is go to the doctor and ask for a fit note that covers you for the period until 30th October (they are allowed to back date it to the date that your last one ran out if they have been seeing you regularly). Ask them to tick the amended duties box and state that you are fit to do x,y,z duties, but not a,b,c as they have done in the past.

Then write to your job 1 employer, stating that you apologise for resigning with immediate effect, but thought that your previous discussion with HR had indicated that this would be acceptable,
as you were on long term sick leave. However, you retract that resignation, and instead give the four weeks notice, ending on 30th October. Unfortunately, you remain unfit for the role and will be signed off as unfit for the duration of your notice period. As with the other fit notes, the doctor has noted duties which S/he feels you are fit for, and as a courtesy, you would like to inform them that you have secured a role which fulfills these criteria.

You would like to that x company for their support during such and such a time, and you wish them well for the future.

Look OP - we are not being awkward here, just trying to explain why what you 'want' to happen won't necessarily happen.

In particular Flowery is an expert on these matters (HR & employment law). You can argue with her if you like but you would be best off listening to her & trying to come to a mutual agreement with your employer about not working your notice.

Most of you seem to be giving the OP a really hard time but really it's the company who are being unreasonable here.
The OP worked for a company in a role when medical issues forced her onto sick leave. Once it became clear that she was unable to continue with that role the company should've found her an alternative role or offered a redundancy package. They didn't do that instead they sat back and waited for her to resign. Which she did once she found a job that she could do.
The manager is being an ass, instead of insisting on a 4 week notice period he should've wished her well in her new job and accepted her resignation with immediate effect.

Teenager you've summed it up perfectly !

And for those querying the financial motivation .. . I was on full pay from job 1 when on sick leave and this would have continued. I've walked away from a f/T job and taken quite a pay cut and p/t hours on job 2. Because of health reasons. I would have been better off financially remaining on sick leave from job 1

And the reason I got new job so quick and didn't need reference is that's quite low paid and came about by word of mouth, a very informal quick interview and trial and immediate start.
But I see all the suspicious minds have me clocked as having run out of ssp, and had this job lined up some time ago etc.

The crux of the matter is I felt forced to resign die to employers inactions as put by Teenage above. I preferred to leave immediately, forgo any money owed rather than continue for another month on full pay. Clean break etc.
Thanks for input.... But really it's done now. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I don't work there anymore full stop. I've another more suitable job. If job 1 wish to pursue further that's fine. Happy to repay if they think I owe money etc. They lucky I'm not making a formal complaint 're disability and their lack of action.

Nice to see lots of the usual judgements here though! And of course jumping to conclusions.

By the way there is a thread from a while back that Flowery the "expert" was on. Similar topic. Different stance altogether! Strange that

I don’t understand why company one would want to pay you full time sick pay for a job you can not do for health reasons. I understand what pps have said that you can’t resign with immediate effect without the companies agreement but what benefit do the company get from keeping the Op on? Genuine question?

Could this be a simple misunderstanding\wrong letter being sent out? Have they specifically denied your request and given a new date? Or is it a standard letter possibly sent in error?

Not read the full thread. Realistically I think your old employer can do pretty much bugger all. An employer can sue you for any costs they incurred because you quit without notice, or if the employment contract says so they can make a deduction from your final pay packet, but since you were already on sick leave it's hard to see how there could be any such costs.

They can give no reference, or a 'basic facts' reference that mentions the quitting and doesn't praise you. But you already have a job.

You categorically can't be forced to work, that would be slavery. An employer can only sue you for monetary compensation.

Yesterday 22:25 thatdearoctopus

OK, I'll say this slowly, for emphasis.

OP. You. Are. Not. Allowed. To. Resign. With. Immediate. Effect. Unless. The. Company. Agrees. It. Has. Not. Agreed. Therefore. You. Are. Still. Employed. By. Them.

I'll say this rudely for emphasis. Don't dare be so god dam patronising.

I'll now say this slowly for emphasis since you seem to have a desire for this type of thing.

I.dont.care. I am well aware. That. I have . Breached. My. Contract. They treated me badly. I left. I don't want anything from them. Not a reference. Not any money. If they wish to sue me for money. Fine. No problem. Do you. Understand. That. All. Now. If not I will repeat. Perdonally. Just for you.

Ignorant rude keyboard dishing out nonsense

And who said earlier I'm so ridiculous it's laughable??? Really? So leaving a job that's making u more ill is laughable? Being proactive and finding a more suitable but less paid job is laughable? Some humour here

OP, you say you are well aware you breached your contract so why did you bother posting?

Ignorant rude keyboard dishing out nonsense

From you.

According to you, your right and everyone else is wrong. Why bother posting exactly?

I can't see the benefit to the old company of holding you to the 4 weeks' notice. The opposite in fact - you say above that you are still on fulll pay. You are letting them off a month's salary and benefits as you would be signed off anyway?

Can any of The.Really.Clear.Explainers.
Explain.Why.They.Want.You.To.Work
Notice.Off.Sick?

I would ask your doctor for a renewal of not fit for this but ok for that note. And tell your previous employers that you don't want the current month's salary.

You said in your first post that you “don’t understand this at all!” but now you know that you’re breaching your contract.

They hold all the aces with this one. Just because they didn’t treat you as you wanted doesn’t mean you can do as you please.

I can't see the benefit to the old company of holding you to the 4 weeks' notice

Maybe they want people to know that they need to stick to the terms of the contract they signed. Otherwise others could also waltz in and declare it’s their last day: “jewlry was allowed to so I should be as well.”

Op I totally understand why you've done what you've done. As you're not bothered about pay or a reference then just ignore. There's nothing they can do

I totally get where you are coming from OP, and I think perhaps you could look at constructive dismissal should you want to go down that route. If your manager has failed to put in place actions recommended by OHU and the doctors then you had no choice other than to resign?
I’d imagine they have someone covering your role already, whilst you’ve been on sick leave? So in the grand scheme of things they’ve made life difficult for you when you’ve been there and difficult when you wanted to leave?
Go enjoy your new role, just wait and see what happens, you can also seek advice from CAB re constructive dismissal!

Op they have been shitty I left my job for similar reasons 4 years ago it's awful.

But you didn't resign with immediate effect you quit your job because they treated you badly and you were angry. Its not the same as resigning when you just say i'm not coming back.