what happens if you don't work your notice??????

[fadingaway]

I've been on this board before after I lost my job and was redeployed within the company doing a crap job for half the salary I was on before.

I have now been offered a new job with a new company to start 1st September (they're desperate and when I checked with the so-called HR department at my current work on Friday (I was told I had the job late Thursday) I was told to put my notice in writing to my team leader. She is on hols until tomorrow so I am doing it then.

So what happens when they don't get another four weeks work out of me - realistically what can they do??

Any HR/employment bods who can help I would be v grateful, as I am stressed out right now and could do with a hand..

In theory they can sue you for the cost of replacing you during your period of notice (net of what they would have paid you), and they will definately give you a shit reference. But that's all.

Be careful on the reference front though, if your new job falls through you may need this reference in the future. Burning your brides can backfire.

As squiffy says, in theory they can sue you for breach of contract but it's not going to happen.

You do need to consider the reference side of things although they would be on shaky legal ground to give you a bad reference because of not working notice. Most companies just give a fairly stock, bland factual reference these days because of legal implications.

In theory they could also keep you on garden leave for your notice period. This usually only happens with senior people etc where they are going to join a competitor. If they did, they would have to pay you to stay at home, so it can be quite a result .

In practice, you mutually negotiate an earlier leaving date! If you leave your present company in the lurch, they might be peeved to say the least. A compromise might be 2 weeks rather than 4 working days! Depends on how easy it is to transfer your workload to someone else.