Employment Law Advice

To the OP, MobileB is an expert in this field.

Seasonal greetings Steve...c'mon you Spurs!

Have a good one Steve. Sneak a draw at Forest one week (and a Blade scoring the penalty), Championship the next?

Survival mate...we're barred from doing business in the transfer window (along with Forest!)...thought of playing you lot in League 1 next season is just not worth thinking about.

Have a good 'un

Actually, people breaching their Contracts of Employment is an absolute pain and is certainly weighted in favour of the employee.

 

A contract is supposed to be equal - therefore if you are required to give four weeks notice then the employer is also required to give four weeks notice.

 

If the employer fails to do so, then you can go to an ET and claim unfair deduction of wages at which you will be paid your full wage (and costs of going to ET if not settled by EC first).

 

If the employee fails to do so ..... the employer has to go to a small claims court and here they have to show that they have substantiated and justifiable losses caused by the employee leaving early.

 

For a small employer or for someone in a specialist role then this could be quite easy - they basically could claim back costs of employing someone temporary, loss of business etc that may have been caused by this person. However, even these would be limited if someone is on 4 weeks notice - if they are so specialist why would you only put them on 4 weeks notice?

 

However, for a larger employer or in an area of business that has a number of people carrying out the same duties, then it is virtually impossible to substantiate any losses.

 

Some employers I know put clauses into COE's that state they can pull back the same amount as notice not served. So, for instance, if the employee was due to work 4 weeks notice but only served 2, then the employee could make a 2 week deduction from final wage. However, this would have the effect of there being no wages due to the employee and this could, potentially, be in breach of the Minimum Wage regulations. To my knowledge, this sort of clause has never been tested in an ET.

 

Therefore, this is an area of contract/employment Law that is well and truly weighted in the direction of the employee.

Would a claw back clause in the contract actually be enforceable?

Would a claw back clause in the contract actually be enforceable?

I cannot see why not unless it took the employee below the National Minimum Wage for the hours actually worked.