New employer cannot wait for my notice period, what are my options?

[TripleTruffle]

As the title says, I've been desperate to find a new role to get out of a toxic environment. The new role knew about the notice period but have advised they cannot wait for the full notice period after offering me the role.

Current employer is not willing to explore me leaving earlier and I have no annual leave left.

I've told the new employer unfortunately its not possible but they've advised they require me to start at a certain point.

What are my options?

There is no law about notice period. It can be one week or one year… it’s a contractural agreement not a criminal offence

Ah two months is a long time for a new employer to wait and a old employer to let you go without completing at least a large chunk of it.

The only solution I can think of is go back to your new employer and ( presuming you already told them of your notice period) that you need to be loyal to the company that you are leaving and 'you are sure new company would not appreciate someone doing tbe same to them'

It's crap but you may have to let the new job go.

I'd give them 1 month's notice and then start your new job.

Why do you think 1 month is mandatory? Every employer has a different notice period stipulated in the contract.

In the absence of a written contract, courts will presume it follows your wages. So a weekly wage will be a weeks notice and so on.

Not hard and fast, but a good rule of thumb.

I worked in HR for 15 years, I've never seen one case of any employer taking an employee to court over not working a notice period, even important, high level members off staff.
Agree a date with your new employer, discuss what it will mean if you can't get a reference from them and all being well tell your old employer the date you will be leaving.

I had
a 3 month notice period at my last job. My new (current) one wanted me ASAP. I agreed a start date with them, signed the contract, informed my old employer I was giving 6 weeks notice hope that’s ok. It was fine.

This sounds like a junior hiring manager, or a small and unprofessional company.

Normally if you get to offer stage you wouldn’t want to lose a candidate - have you made it clear your company is refusing to compromise?

How long is your notice period? 3 months is normal for anything but junior positions so you could point out that it’s standard. If it’s longer that may be harder - can your current company bend if you offer decent handover and point out your heart isn’t in it now you have a new offer?

What do you mean by job offered, is it firm and post-references from current employer?

if so, then just agree a start date with them and separately take time off sick with previous employer for work stress, given you’ve said it’s a toxic environment. I wouldn’t be enduring a toxic environment for longer than needed tbh, just like you might have an obligation to work a notice period, they’re legally obliged to provide a safe working environment.

And what happens if you don’t? 🤷‍♀️ it will cost them a lot more to take you to court etc than if they just accept it!

I suppose it depends what sector. We do group training seminars which can’t be coordinated for people at a later date. If it’s just a form of a desk job then it could be because they’ve been looking to fill that vacancy for a while already and can’t wait any longer…

I think PPs are right in the sense that if you leave with immediate effect they probably won’t sue you, but let’s say you don’t pass probation in this job, or are made redundant (some companies do that when you’re only a few months in to the role because it’s easier) then you’d probably want that reference.

Leaving early would be breach of contract. Unless they take you to court, there's not much they can do.

If you are not coping due to current role being toxic etc then IF and its a bit if as I’ve never heard of anyone being taken to court! you just explain to the judge about the toxic environment and the fact you have no choice but to leave current role or you will lose new job 🤷‍♀️
just leave your current role when YOU want and if that is less than 2 months notice so be it!!

You come across as strangely pedantic. If something is highly unlikely, why are you yapping about it?

If you had any experience with providing references, you would be aware that the standard approach is providing dates worked and most recent job title. It is rare for employers to move away from this structure in lieu of adding comments around personality, performance or notice periods.

Can you just quit and leave ? Is the new job worth it ? Especially if they ignored you when you told them your notice period. The new employers don’t sound helpful.

It sounds like you will have to leave your current job anyway, will you be able to get another job to exactly line up in 2 months time?

What can your current employers actually do if you walk out today?

To show off very basic legal knowledge? Happens all the time on these threads 😭

@TripleTruffle unless you have used all your accrued holiday I’d expect that to be deducted from the notice period (e.g. accrued unised holiday over 9 months, that might be up to 12 working days off your leave date. On the other hand, if you used more than you accrue, you might have to pay it back. And what does your contract say? Mine says 3 months but it would be negotiable.

We have a 3 month notice. Usually people work most of it, but I’ve had one person leave with immediate effect. They just refused to work any leave and started with their new company straight away.

It did create a bit of bad blood, but mostly because of the way it was handled.

Theres no chance on earth we would have sued though. It’s a waste of time trying and takes up valuable time you could be spending on finding a replacement!

Sorry...but if you aren't able to negotiate a workable start date I think you might be going from one toxic environment to another...

go sick?

I know someone whose workplace insisted he had to work his full notice and threatened to sue him if he didn’t, after a couple of days they changed their minds (obviously decided it wouldn’t be a good look for them)

I’d think it would be very very unlikely they’d sue you if you didn’t work your full notice, but they might not reply to reference requests in future.

How has it reached offer stage without new employer knowing what your earliest start date could be?
We ask about notice periods before interviewing. If the notice is long, non negotiable, or would leave us short staffed while we wait, we wouldn’t usually interview.
To avoid delays at offer stage or going back to square one.
Did they ask about notice periods? Could you negotiate unpaid leave to facilitate an earlier exit?

I had this situation and I wanted to leave so badly wild horses wouldn't have stopped me so I just said sorry i can only work x weeks notice to current employer and presented ot as a fait accompli, they then begrudgingly authorised it as they had no choice really and that was that.

How bad do you want to leave?

I’ve just remembered one awful, drippy girl we had working in our office, she had a 3 month notice period and she just stopped working once she’d handed her notice in, she just came to the office and sat chatting and making cups of coffee, by the end the manager was begging her to cut her notice period short because her lack of output was bringing the whole teams stats down, but she wouldn’t and the procedure and paperwork to sack her was too onerous, so she got away with it, could you try that?

I would just tell them when you are leaving and go. While it's not ideal, keeping on the right side of your new employer is more important than keeping on the right side of your old one. In theory, breaching your contract looks really bad, but in practice, the people who would potentially know and care about that will be your new employer who could rearrange your start date to stop you having to breach your contract if they wanted.