Notice period

Last updated

A notice period or period of notice within a contract may by defined within the contract itself, or subject to a condition of reasonableness. In an employment contract, a notice period is a period of time between the receipt of the letter of dismissal and the end of the last working day. This time period does not have to be given to an employee by their employer before their employment ends. The term also refers to the period between a termination date or resignation date and the last working day in the company when an employee leaves or when a contract ends.

Contents

Contractual provisions

A contract may state a period of notice which either/any party is required to give to the other contractual parties. The contract between Winter Garden Theatre (London) Ltd. and Millennium Productions Ltd., which gave rise to a 1948 legal case, stated that Millennium would have to give a month's notice if it wished to terminate, but Winter Garden's obligations were not stated. Lord MacDermott stated in that case that

The conclusion I reach is that in this contract there should be implied a stipulation to the effect that, ... the licence might be terminated by the licensors on the expiration of a reasonable notice period duly communicated to the licensees. [1]

The duration of a reasonable notice period depends on the particular facts of a particular case. [2] In the case of Jackson Distribution Ltd. v Tum Yeto Inc. (2009), a distribution arrangement had been established between these two companies but there was no formal written agreement. They had discussed a number of options in a series of e-mails, and draft agreements had passed between them. The High Court of England and Wales confirmed that the facts of the case and the type of contract in place would be relevant to determining the notice period applicable to terminating a contract, and that other relevant factors and any relevant trade practices could also be taken into account. [3] A reasonable period has been judged to be 12 months in some cases, but shorter in others. [4]

Notice periods in employment law

Statutory redundancy notice periods in the UK

In the United Kingdom, the statutory redundancy notice periods are: [5]

These statutory periods constitute the minimum notice period to be given by the employer; however, some employers may opt to give employees longer notice periods, in order to give the employees a better opportunity to find alternative employment. [note 1]

Notice periods in Poland

In Poland the same notice period applies regardless of which party (employer or employee) withdraws the contract. The statutory periods apply, unless both parties agree on other terms:

The week-measured period ends on Saturday. The month-measured period ends on the last day of calendar month—for instance, if 1-month period applies, a resignation or dismissal produced between 1st and 30 April results in contract termination on 31 May. [6]

Notice periods in the United States

Because most employment in the U.S. is at-will, no notice period is required. In practice, most employees provide two weeks' notice. [7]

Notice periods in Denmark

Notice periods for white collar workers are defined in the Danish Law on Salaried Employees or "Funktionærloven", [8] which are:

If the employee resigns, he/she has to give a 1-month notice period.

Notice periods in Switzerland

Notice periods in Switzerland are governed by the Code of Obligations, [9] which sets the default time scales. The notice period depends on the employee’s length of service within the company as follows:

The default trial period is the first month of employment, but may be extended up to three months. After the trial period, the notice period may be amended by a written contract, but not under one month, unless set by a collective labor agreement and only for the first year of employment. [10]

Notes

  1. This section incorporates text copied from https://www.gov.uk/redundant-your-rights/notice-periods under the terms of the Open Government Licence 2.0.

Related Research Articles

In employment law, constructive dismissal, also called constructive discharge or constructive termination, occurs when an employee resigns as a result of the employer creating a hostile work environment. Since the resignation was not truly voluntary, it is, in effect, a termination. For example, when an employer places extraordinary and unreasonable work demands on an employee to obtain their resignation, this can constitute a constructive dismissal.

In United States labor law, at-will employment is an employer's ability to dismiss an employee for any reason, and without warning, as long as the reason is not illegal. When an employee is acknowledged as being hired "at will", courts deny the employee any claim for loss resulting from the dismissal. The rule is justified by its proponents on the basis that an employee may be similarly entitled to leave their job without reason or warning. The practice is seen as unjust by those who view the employment relationship as characterized by inequality of bargaining power.

In United Kingdom law, the concept of wrongful dismissal refers exclusively to dismissal contrary to the contract of employment, which effectively means premature termination, either due to insufficient notice or lack of grounds. Although wrongful dismissal is usually associated with lack of notice sometimes it can also be caused by arbitrary dismissal where no notice was required but certain grounds were specified in the contract as being the only ones available but none existed.

An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain. The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old master-servant law, used before the 20th century. Employment contracts relies on the concept of authority, in which the employee agrees to accept the authority of the employer and in exchange, the employer agrees to pay the employee a stated wage.

Unfair dismissal in the United Kingdom is the part of UK labour law that requires fair, just and reasonable treatment by employers in cases where a person's job could be terminated. The Employment Rights Act 1996 regulates this by saying that employees are entitled to a fair reason before being dismissed, based on their capability to do the job, their conduct, whether their position is economically redundant, on grounds of a statute, or some other substantial reason. It is automatically unfair for an employer to dismiss an employee, regardless of length of service, for becoming pregnant, or for having previously asserted certain specified employment rights. Otherwise, an employee must have worked for two years. This means an employer only terminates an employee's job lawfully if the employer follows a fair procedure, acts reasonably and has a fair reason.

In contract law, a non-compete clause, restrictive covenant, or covenant not to compete (CNC), is a clause under which one party agrees not to enter into or start a similar profession or trade in competition against another party. Some courts refer to these as "restrictive covenants". As a contract provision, a CNC is bound by traditional contract requirements including the consideration doctrine.

The Employment Standards Act of British Columbia (Canada), is legislation enacted by the provincial government of British Columbia to protect the rights of working people. Sections within the act outline the employers responsibility to their employees, notably things such as minimum wage, meal breaks, and parental leave. The act also works to protect residents of the province by preventing employment discrimination.

A severance package is pay and benefits that employees may be entitled to receive when they leave employment at a company unwillfully. In addition to their remaining regular pay, it may include some of the following:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Employment Rights Act 1996</span> United Kingdom Law

The Employment Rights Act 1996 is a United Kingdom Act of Parliament passed by the Conservative government to codify existing law on individual rights in UK labour law.

<i>Wallace v United Grain Growers Ltd</i> Supreme Court of Canada case

Wallace v United Grain Growers Ltd, 1997 CanLII 332, [1997] 3 SCR 701 is a leading decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in the area of Canadian employment law, particularly in determining damages arising from claims concerning wrongful dismissal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contracts of Employment Act 1963</span> United Kingdom Law

The Contracts of Employment Act 1963 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which introduced the requirement to give reasonable notice before dismissal and written particulars of a contract of employment. It is widely recognised as "the first modern employment protection statute".

Johnson v Unisys Limited [2001] UKHL 13 is a leading UK labour law case on the measure of damages for unfair dismissal and the nature of the contract of employment.

In labour law, unfair dismissal is an act of employment termination made without good reason or contrary to the country's specific legislation.

An employment contract in English law is a specific kind of contract whereby one person performs work under the direction of another. The two main features of a contract is that work is exchanged for a wage, and that one party stands in a relationship of relative dependence, or inequality of bargaining power. On this basis, statute, and to some extent the common law, requires that compulsory rights are enforceable against the employer.

South African labour law regulates the relationship between employers, employees and trade unions in the Republic of South Africa.

In law, wrongful dismissal, also called wrongful termination or wrongful discharge, is a situation in which an employee's contract of employment has been terminated by the employer, where the termination breaches one or more terms of the contract of employment, or a statute provision or rule in employment law. Laws governing wrongful dismissal vary according to the terms of the employment contract, as well as under the laws and public policies of the jurisdiction.

<i>Reda v Flag Ltd</i>

Reda v Flag Ltd [2002] UKPC 38 is a case from Bermuda law, advised upon by the Privy Council, that is relevant for UK labour law and UK company law concerning the dismissal of a director.

Labour law regulates the legal relationship in Bulgaria between individual workers and employees as well as between coalitions and representative bodies.

Legislation relating to employment in the Republic of Ireland governs the provision and content of the contract of employment, payment of wages, length of the working day and working week, and dismissal procedures.

A termination of employment in Argentina is the rescission of an employee's employment contract, decided unilaterally by the employer, with or without a cause. As the requirements to proceed with a termination of employment and the consequences of the decision are regulated by each piece of legislation, there are differences depending on the country whose legislation is to be applied. This article refers exclusively to termination of employees who, having worked in Argentina, are governed by the laws of that country.

References

  1. Wikipedia Foundation, Winter Garden Theatre (London) Ltd v Millennium Productions Ltd, accessed 1 July 2023
  2. Coyle, M., What is a reasonable notice period?, Lawdit Solicitors, published 16 November 2013, accessed 10 December 2022
  3. Brachers, Contracts: termination and reasonable notice periods, published 16 January 2015, accessed 1 July 2023
  4. Spearman, R., England and Wales High Court (Chancery Division), Bristol Groundschool Ltd v Intelligent Data Capture Ltd & Ors [2014] EWHC 2145 (Ch), delivered 2 July 2014, accessed 8 September 2023
  5. GOV.UK: Redundancy - Notice periods
  6. Polish Code of Labour
  7. "How to Manage Employees Who Don't Give 2 Weeks' Notice - businessnewsdaily.com". Business News Daily. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  8. Dansk Funktionærlov
  9. "The finer points of terminating an employment contract". Fedlex: The publication platform for federal law. Federal Council of Switzerland. 27 February 2020. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  10. "Bundesgesetz betreffend die Ergänzung des Schweizerischen Zivilgesetzbuches (Fünfter Teil: Obligationenrecht)". Fedlex: The publication platform for federal law (in German). Federal Council of Switzerland. 1 January 2021. Archived from the original on 31 January 2021. Retrieved 31 January 2021.