ChatterBank1 min ago
Walking out before payday
I started my new job yesterday but I was also due to return to my old position yesterday following the end of my paid holiday.
Today is my usual payday from my old company but I haven't been paid. When I called them to find out why they said that it was because I has another job and had not worked my contractual 1 months notice. I had not advised them that I had a new job and they must have found out this (presumably from the reference checks) last week in time to stop my pay going into my bank through BACS.
My question is are they in breach of contract? I realise that I am but surely my old employer cannot consider that I have left without notice after only one days absence and nothing either verbally or in writing from me.
If anyone needs me to clarify anything then let me know.
Answers
No best answer has yet been selected by Gandy. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.I did get on really well with my old employer and do not feel great about doing this. The position I held with my old company, a big faceless multinational, had come to a natural end and I wanted to move on. The new position would not have waited a month for me so I was caught between a rock and a hard place.
I didn't turn up or call them yesterday - Rightly or wrongly I wanted to wait until pay was safely in my account before confirming anything with them
I can only tell you what my my employers do - they withold pay from anyone who does not fulfil the terms of their contract. If it clearly stated in your contract that you had to give a months written notice, and you did not, then they will likely withold your holiday pay, because they will consider you are breaking your contract- which presumably you signed at the start of your employment and left a copy with them.
If you do try to pursue this legally - then I can tell you that its very lengthy and drawn out and may just end up costing you more than you have lost already.
The point of the matter is:- can my employer take action on the assumption that I will breach my contract? At the time when they took the action of recalling the BACS transfer (if the transfer ever went ahead in the first place) they could not be certain that I was intending to breach my contract. I had not breached my contract when my old employer took this action so in theory they seemed to have breached the contract before me. maybe???
Try to contact your local Law Centre; they are staffed by local solicitors doing pro-bono work after office hours. They are usually good on employment issues. Take your employment contracts (both old and new job) with you. Usually you have to go and queue up, try to go early because they may only be able to see a certain number of people every evening.
To deal with thay specifically most likely not. Most large companies have a team of legal people to cover such circumstances, while your contract might not say anything on the matter there will likely be a employee handbook which in you contract would have been mentioned, something along the lines of, "The guidelines set out in the company handbook also form part of your contract".
In the handbook there will most likely be a line to the effect of... "We reserve the right to with hold pay in regard to a breech of contract".
Personally I'd just be happy with getting out and forget the matter and move on.
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