12 Weeks or 3 months?
by Philip
This may sound obvious, but 12 weeks is not the same as 3 months. 3 months is actually 13 weeks. Who cares? It is common for contracts to give an entitlement to “3 months’ notice”. This means that employees are entitled to 13 weeks’ notice or 13 weeks’ PILON - not 12 weeks’. This can make a significant difference to redundancy costs for high earners - for an employee on £52k p.a. the difference is an extra £1000.00. An easy mistake to make, but a costly one for employers, especially in collective redundancy cases!
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My employer wants to move people from a 4 week notice period to a 13 week notice period. Are they doing this for their benefit or mine? In the event of redundancies, does this mean less entitlement for the those being made redundant? Or the same payment, but more tax? Or the same payment to the ex-employee, but less cost for the employer.
Malcolm Ogden said at May 22nd, 2007 at 1:31 pm
I obviously could not comment on specifics as I do not know who your employer is. In general terms a long notice period is a valuable benefit for an employee as in the event of a dismissal you get a longer notice period or a bigger pilon.
Philip said at May 22nd, 2007 at 2:31 pm
My Employer has given me notice of redundancy. The letter states “12 weeks from the date of this letter”. However in other correspondence and discussions I have been told that my termination date will be at the end of the 3rd month. This is a difference of nearly a week. For various reasons it would be in my interest to take the earlier date. What should the termination date be?
James Tedford said at August 15th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Obviously as Philip said we cannot comment on specific cases but your employer should issue you a notice of redundancy in writing confirming your dismissal and the date this will take effect (the effective date of termination) thiswill be the date you will need to work towards. The longer away this date the more salary you get so normally tyhe longer the better. If however you have another job then there are complicated rules concerning counter notices and you should seek legal advice.
Sarah said at August 15th, 2007 at 3:41 pm
My contract provides for 3 months notice on the part of the employee but in accordance with statutory requirements on the part of the employer. Which applies in the event of being made redundant? If I wanted a salary for as long as possible would I be better off handing in my notice as the redundancy payment is nominal?
Greg said at June 9th, 2008 at 5:42 pm