Should I just tell work I won’t be working a full notice

[PureBlackVoid]

I will try to keep this brief but need to vent a little and want to give background for why I’m frustrated and just want to be done with this company.

Tuped over at the start of the year. Lots of changes happening in the dept, but my team has just been left in the dark. We are still in ‘consultation’ whilst other teams (also tuped) have had new contracts.

3 months ago we were informed that they are getting rid of my team. Our jobs are being moved to another dept completely(different location). We do not have the opportunity to transfer to that dept. We just have to apply for available vacancies if we want to. They have shown such disregard for my team, and keep fobbing us off whilst others who have tuped have had several pay increases, shift premiums introduced, the lot. We no longer even have a direct line manager.

Since then we have had a couple of ‘consultations’ but they are not answering any questions directly or providing new information. They are being so evasive, management/HR take weeks to reply to basic queries and the response is usually ‘we are still looking into it’. e.g theres been an issue with them confirming our AL allowances (we don’t have access to what we took prior to TUPE and they calculate AL differently). I’ve been asking to take leave for caring duties, but I don’t want to end up taking more than I’ve accrued and lose pay over that (or atleast I want to be able to plan for this financially).

In the meantime, my team has become a middle man for other depts. With system upgrades/training etc, we just get work dumped on us, on top of our jobs, with basic instructions, little support.

I was offered a new, external job a few weeks ago. Offer subject to satisfactory refs. Current employer agreed to provide a ref, but then took weeks to respond. Until refs were completed I couldn’t get my contract, therefore couldn’t hand my notice in. So start date delayed at new job. I have been asking for a while to discuss if they will consider me working a shorter notice period. Same response ‘we’ll get back to you’ and then they don’t.

The reason is I need to leave a few days between the two jobs for caring duties and I will be going from night to day working. So I can’t just finish a night shift then go to my new job the next day. Had they sorted out the AL issues by now, I likely would have been off on these dates anyway.

I’ve followed up, but yet again I’ve been given a non committal response then ignored.

If they were to give us our notice, they only need to give 2 weeks but I need to give 4. There would be 2 weeks redundancy pay, but I would rather have a secure job than stay in limbo indefinitely for the sake of 2 weeks pay.

I don’t want to delay my new start date anymore. I’ve tried to do things ‘properly’. New job have been understanding so far but frankly I just want to be done with this company.

I’m now considering just writing my notice but stating I will be finishing on X date which will be 2 weeks. I’ve never done this before, so I’m not sure what happens if they just say ‘no’.

Any tips on whether I should explain in the notice why I can’t work beyond X date?

I considered handing a 4 week notice and then phoning in sick but I don’t know if this will have tax implications as the 2 employments would overlap (don’t get sick pay, would be SSP)

In theory you can be sued for breach of contract if you fail to give your contractual notice - obviously because that is what you would do if they failed to pay you. In practice it rarely happens, but it could, so be aware it's a risk.

If you went off sick for two weeks you would need a fit note from your GP. Are you willing to lie to your GP about being sick? Again, in theory you can work whilst off sick from another job but not at the same time as the job you are signed off from because saying you are too sick to work and taking sick pay (including SSP) whilst working in another role is fraud. I wouldn't recommend it because the employer might take action including telling your new employer. But it's up to you whether you decide to take the risk or not.

Send them a letter or email telling them you are leaving on x date. Then leave.

Up to them if they want to chase. I certainly wouldn't hang around waiting for permission.

I'm sorry I don't know if it's relevant but I'm really struggling to work out what "Tuped over at the start of the year." means and I don't know if it changes what the rest of the post says or not.

Sorry it’s TUPE. I worked for a subcontractor of my current company, and they made us in-house employees at the start of the year (but my team are still on our old contracts).

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry I should have clarified I only thought about going off sick as a way to get around it, but decided it’s not worth the hassle/worrying it would show up in new job that I was still technically employed. I wanted to do it ‘properly’ but I’m just tired of being ignored..

I’ve just always followed contracts and policies up to now, so to not do that with my notice makes me a little nervous!

I think I'd be writing stating that as they have taken so long to respond to your leave and reference requests that with apologies you are now giving 2 weeks notice.

Which is entirely irrelevant. There is no legal requirement to provide a reference. There is no legal requirement to approve leave when people want it. There is a requirement to give notice. The OP wants to leave early. Why start a battle? They can state whatever they like - contractual notice is required. Why start a battle? Ask. They may agree. If they don't the OP knows its a risk to walk, but a small risk. But if they start a battle, the employer might decide to finish it.

" As I have received no objection from you to my previous written requests to retire on x date, please be advised that I will retire accordingly on x date. If I can be of any help with handover of duties I am more than willing to assist. "
Try that maybe?

@PureBlackVoid give two weeks notice, it will be fine. Include a subject access request for a copy of your annual leave entitlement.

Will anyone notice if you just don't show up? It sounds very chaotic tbh.

Get your ref and go on annual leave. Apply for annual leave and go.

This is a good point tbh, probably not! We’ve had a fixed rota since day 1, there’s not that many of us in my team, but they still can’t seem to figure out who is working when. We regularly get contacted on our days off because people have been told we’re on.

A couple of months ago, one of the managers was confused when I told them we work 12 hour shifts (the rest of the company are contracted to 8 hour shifts)

That’s one of the reasons we have been waiting to get confirmation on AL balances before booking any leave. Previous company AL was in days, this company calculate in hours.
Considering the manager didn’t realise what shifts we work, I am 99% sure our leave will be calculated in hours, based on their standard 8 hour days. (They have a Cascade style system for holidays and we are down as working M-F 9-5, which is not even close to our rota).

With any other employer, I’d think it an easy error to fix, but these guys have taken over 3 months to count. We have tried to clarify this a number of times with HR but they just kept going around in circles with the response.

In any case, I’ve now given my notice stating X date. The company response time to emails appears to be 2-3 weeks, so I’ll probably be gone by the time they read it!