# Redundancies - do you have to work your notice?



## mizgrun (Apr 14, 2009)

Hi All

I had thought the moment a person gets given their redundancy chat, they could literally pack up their things and leave the office. However now I am told that I would have to work my notice period.

what happens if i don't want to work my notice period, does anyone know where i stand?

help!


----------



## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

It is common anywhere in the world for you to work your notice period. You will need to check your contract for the exact wording but if you fail to work your notice period, you effectively forfeit a month's salary.
If working your notice period is an issue, I would advise that you approach your line manager and HR department asap and try to agree on a revised notice period or an appropriate penalty if you wish to leave asap. The company is not legally obliged to listen and taken on board your request but there is really no harm in trying.


----------



## ccr (Jun 20, 2010)

Just tell them you are going to their strongest competitor, and you will do exactly the same job for them - then see how fast they want to get you out of the office without any additional company secrets...


----------



## Maz25 (Jul 6, 2008)

ccr said:


> Just tell them you are going to their strongest competitor, and you will do exactly the same job for them - then see how fast they want to get you out of the office without any additional company secrets...


Best he checks his contract before he makes this claim as a lot of contracts have a clause forbidding you from working for your company's competitors for a fixed period of time. If this clause is in his Contract, that is more than enough reason for his company to give him a ban as he would effectively be in breach on Contract. He definitely does not want to give the Company grounds to be start being difficult, which seems to be the common way to deal with redundancy these days.


----------



## titirangi (Aug 14, 2008)

Maz25 said:


> Best he checks his contract before he makes this claim as a lot of contracts have a clause forbidding you from working for your company's competitors for a fixed period of time. If this clause is in his Contract, that is more than enough reason for his company to give him a ban as he would effectively be in breach on Contract. He definitely does not want to give the Company grounds to be start being difficult, which seems to be the common way to deal with redundancy these days.


Very good point - the large company I work with has a history of imposing the dreaded employment (12mo?) ban - assumed to be an attempt to prevent staff from defecting to the competition. This has proved to be very effective - a number recently defected and then magically returned several weeks later with nothing more said... Another example of how "open" the UAE labor market is (sarcasm intended).

Wherever possible try to end things on a positive note for all involved - this sounds like cheap advice from an anonymous internet forum but after being through this a number of times (and very happy with the $ettlement) it is best to look for something that works for you both. If that means eating humble pie and working out your notice then so be it - life could be worse and from experience the pie tastes just fine.


----------



## mizgrun (Apr 14, 2009)

Wherever possible try to end things on a positive note for all involved - this sounds like cheap advice from an anonymous internet forum but after being through this a number of times (and very happy with the $ettlement) it is best to look for something that works for you both. If that means eating humble pie and working out your notice then so be it - life could be worse and from experience the pie tastes just fine.[/QUOTE]


well I guess I'm gonna be eating some pie for a while 
Thank you for the great advice!


----------

