Jobs & Education

Two month notice period

My colleague has recently submitted his required "two month" notice period as set out in our contract of employment as he has a new job.

He has a start date of Mon 18 Aug with his new job but his current employer says that his two month notice period is actually two calender months and they won't allow him to leave until Fri 22 Aug. Our contract of employment only has the words "two months" and not "two calender months".......

if he goes by just two months then he is able to start on mon 18 Aug but if it's two calender months then the company won't release him until Fri 22...

...does anyone know if the company can suddenly claim that the notice period is two calender months when the wording does not say that in his contract??

the company said they will not budge on this despite the fact that my colleague has asked them politely to reduce it so that he can start his new job on aug 18......HELP!!

Julian74 Sat 05/07/08 17:34

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factor30
Sat 05/07/08
17:39

I don't understand this. My understanding of the term t'wo complete calendar months' would mean a finish date of the last day of the month- presumably in this case 31 August.
Perhaps your friend is taking the notice period to be 8 weeks whereas the employer wants 2 months

Jugglering
Sat 05/07/08
17:41

I'm a bit lost here.... surely a month is a month - ie January or February or June or July. Is your friend calculating on an 8 week notice period instead ? If so, that is definitely not two months ! How is your friend paid at the moment - in weekly or monthly instalments ?

Jugglering
Sat 05/07/08
17:42

LOL... snap !

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
17:42

Question Author

yeh they are now saying that the two months is "calender" months but, Can they do that? I would have thought that "two months" would mean 8 weeks???

Jugglering
Sat 05/07/08
17:43

Apart from February (in a non leap year) there are never 4 weeks to a month....

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
17:47

Question Author

...in simple terms he resigned on 23 June 08......

if two months notice is required then should that mean:

8 weeks from 23 June (two months)

or

being released on 23 Aug? (two calender months)

Jugglering
Sat 05/07/08
17:51

Two months = two calendar months in my opinion. As I asked above, how does your friend get paid - every four weeks or every month ? If he gets paid every four weeks, then he has a reasonable argument for eight (or even four !!!!) weeks notice but if paid on a monthly basis - on the same day every month, then his notice period would usually reflect that.

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
17:54

Question Author

he gets paid on the last working day of every month and not on a 4 weekly basis

Jugglering
Sat 05/07/08
17:59

So he simply needs to accept the fact that his employer sees a month as a calendar month, both in terms of his pay and his notice, sorry !

To get around the situation, does he have any annual leave left over that he could give up instead of notice ? He might also suggest that he promises to work some overtime for the remaining time he has with the company or even accept a bit of a pay cut for the final month.

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
18:14

Question Author

....he's tried all that, they are simply being difficult and not budging on the date.....

....thanks for your answers, I think I need to find out though if this whole two month issue is legally binding i.e. two calender months or two months as is in 8 wks.

buildersmate
Sat 05/07/08
18:14

Two months is 2 months. If he resigned yesterday on 4th July, 2 months means 4th September - not 8 weeks as something above is suggesting. Its that simple. The company is trying it on. It doesn't matter a jot how often (frequency) he is paid - raising that is just making the issue more confusing.

factor30
Sat 05/07/08
19:03

For once I'm confused by Buildersmate's answer. d I'm not sure why Buildersmate feels the company is truing it on- 2 months is 2 months so 2 months from 23rd june is 23 August.
I'm also puzzled as to why Julian74 keeps insisting 2 months is 8 weeks.

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
19:16

Question Author

...i'm not insisting anything, I just want to get to bottom of this.......I wouldn't be asking if I knew the answer for sure.

I also just wanted clarfication from someone who perhaps new 100% what the answer was.

it is very easy to assume that this is calender months but this could be a technicality that could allow be the difference between my friend starting his new job or not?

thanks for all the answers so far, appeciate it

factor30
Sat 05/07/08
19:21

2 months is 2 months. I suggest the word 'calendar' is not relevant (nor appropriate) in this case.
If the employer had to give an employee 2 months notice I'm sure the employee would expect 2 months-not 8 weeks

Panic Button
Sat 05/07/08
19:28

..and if he fails to turn in on the 18th of August what can they do?

TEAK36
Sat 05/07/08
19:32

who cares about whether it is 8 weeks or 2 calendar moths. the company cannot physically stop your colleague from leaving. They may threaten him with court action, or delay his final monthly salary, but they cannor stop him.

Tell your colleague to just go ahead and do what is necessary to further his career.

factor30
Sat 05/07/08
19:48

Julian was looking for a legal technicality that could be used to argue 2 months= 8 weeks.
The other issue is an ethical one. I agree that if he walks out a week early the employer is unlikely to sue for breach of contract. The best bet is to explain the misunderstanding to the current employer as soon a spossible and if he has been a loyal employee they may help him as they'll want him to feel happy and commited during his remaining weeks

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
21:15

Question Author

thanks for those replies....

....the other problem is that my friend is leaving our company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the company he is going to.....

....our company are just being difficult because they are losing a lot of staff to our parent company and claim that as we are two different companies, legally he has to leave this company before starting with the parent company....it is so wrong it's laughable......

..our parent company cannot understand why our company are imposing this so strictly but legally they say they are within their rights.....

...they've got him over a barrel really as if he doesn't stay until 22 aug then they will simply contact the parent company which could jeopordise the job with them....

.....it suits them to say that we are two seperate companies when it works in their favour....

bednobs
Sat 05/07/08
21:18

just contact the new boss, explain and start a week later - simple. they have paid money to interview him, he is the right person for the job - its hardly likey they are going to say they ont want him because he has to start a week later is it?

Julian74
Sat 05/07/08
21:52

Question Author

..wish it was that easy...

..the two companies are airlines, one is a parent company of the other....

....the 18 Aug is the date of a new training course with about 20 people on it and is the last course this year.....

...our company won't retract his resignation and the new company can't change the course date as it's not just for one person....they've got people in a holding pool that they can simply get last minute to cover his place....

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