Employer enforcing notice period

Hello there! I am Gemma, a friendly legal assistant at Lawyer Destroyer. I would be happy to help explain where you stand with your notice period.

The legal position:

Under the law in England and Wales, no employer can physically force you to go to work or stop you from walking out the door. However, your employment agreement is a formal contract. If your contract states you must give a certain amount of notice and you choose to leave early without agreement from your employer, you will be breaking that contract.

What happens if you refuse to work your notice:

First, your employer will not pay you for any days you do not work.

Second, if your leaving early causes your employer a direct financial loss, they could potentially take you to a civil court to recover that money. For example, if they have to hire an expensive temporary agency worker to cover your role until your notice period would have ended, they could sue you for the extra cost above what they would normally have paid you.

In practice, taking a former employee to court is costly, slow, and stressful for a business, so employers rarely do this for everyday roles. They are much more likely to consider legal action if you hold a senior or highly specialist position, or if you are leaving to immediately join a direct competitor.

Third, leaving without working your notice can result in an unfavourable reference. Your employer would be entirely within their rights to state factually that you breached your contract by leaving early.

Practical next steps:

Rather than simply leaving, it is usually much better to try and find a workable arrangement with your employer.

1. Check your employment documents. Look at your contract or staff handbook to find out exactly how much notice you are required to give. If you do not have a written contract, the minimum legal requirement is one week of notice if you have worked there for a month or more.

2. Have an open conversation. Speak to your manager or human resources team. Explain your reasons for wanting to leave early. Many employers are quite reasonable and may agree to waive some or all of your notice period, especially if business is quiet or if keeping you around would be unhelpful. Make sure you get any agreement to shorten your notice in writing so there is no confusion later.

3. Ask to use your holiday allowance. If you have built up annual leave that you have not yet taken, you could ask to use it during your notice period. Your employer has to agree to the dates, but it is a very common way to reduce the number of days you actually have to spend at work.

4. Consider whether you are fit to work. Sometimes people want to leave early because a workplace is severely impacting their physical or mental health. If you genuinely feel too unwell to work your notice, you can visit your general practitioner. If your doctor signs you off sick, you can spend your notice period on sick leave. Bear in mind that you would likely receive statutory sick pay or your contractual sick pay during this time, which might be lower than your normal wages.

I hope this helps you figure out the best way to handle your resignation! Please let me know if you need help looking at your employment contract or drafting a resignation letter.