Dull question about notice periods

[marialuisa]

I supposedly have a negotiable 1-3 month notice period. The deputy HoD approved my request to only give 1 month's notica as HoD is on holiday. He now seems to be trying to wriggle out of it (and agreement was verbal only)and hand over to HoD who won't be back for 2 weeks.

I expect HoD to be awkward because he's an arse, assuming my new employer has everything in place (agreed to start mid-September, giving me a fortnight sanity break whilst we move house and DD starts school) how bad will it be if I just walk? They definitely won't sue me for breach of contrcat and I would not use them as referees as I have only been here since the end of March.

TIA

Bit immoral but you could always go 'off sick'.............

I think the Deputy HOD needs to stand by his decision of 1 month and bite the bullet. I think it is extremely unfair of them to try and backtrack now.

What does your Contract of Employment actually state?

To be honest, if you left early, there is v little they can do about it - I work in HR and I get people not working out their notice a hell of a lot.

Can you sit down with them and negotiate?

Thanks, have pushed things with deputy and HR are not inclined to help HoD if he's awkward. So I'll just go-don't want to go sick TBH.

Can you put it in writing (addressed to deputy HOD) and backdate the letter to when you verbally agreed the 1 month notice? If it is negotiable 1-3 month notice, they have to stand by what was agreed, even if it was only verbally.

when you put it in writing be sure to say .. 'further to our agreement my last day of work will be xx xxxxx' .. copy to HOD and HR

Have put everything in writing, it's just iffy because this sort of job has a standard 3 month notice period but because I'm in my first 6 months there's the option of either side just giving one month's notice (although they can just give the notice, I have to get agreement!)

Hi, I just saw this thread and wanted to add something quickly because I'm a lawyer, but haven't got long before baby wakes so post again if you want more info...
If you've agreed to change the contract to 1 months notice, that's fine but your problem is proving that there's any such agreement. If the HoD denies it, a court is unlikely to believe you without any kind of evidence. So a court may well conclude that your contractual obligation is 3 months. Leaving early would be a breach of contract and technically allows your employer to sue you for damages. But very few employers bother, because they have to prove that they have suffered some quantifiable damage and this is always hard. Plus the size of any quantifiable damage is probably less than the cost of a law suit. So the bottom line is that, unlesss you're about to walk out at the point of a major deal or something that causes demonstrable loss then you're unlikely to get sued. But don't expect a good reference!

It is not iffy - if you have agreed a shorter period of notice with someone whom you believed to be have sufficient authority to negotiate such a thing, then it is a done deal.

sorry, my post was in reponse to marialuisa's post not rickshaw's! Also, I think the fact that you have confirmed, in writing, the outcome of your discussion with the deputy HoD, means that there is some evidence that the agreement was reached unless he immediately writes to deny it.

Thanks, I work for a large University and as I'm not a Chair or anything important they won't bother trying to sue me! I will never use them as referees as I don't believe that I have been here long enough (5 months when I leave) for them to say anything other than that I worked here and they don't think I've mismanaged the budget.

Roll on August 31st!