How legal is my contract?

[Guest iolande]

Hi

 

I want to get out of my employment contract and it looks like my contract has unfair conditions and I want some advice.

 

I need to give 3 months notice (I've worked for just under a year)

 

I'm on a variable hours contract - which guarantees 10 hours of work a year. And also allows my employer to change my hours at short notice (i.e. immediately if they don't want me to work that day they can cancel and they won't have to pay me)

 

My big question is - do I have to give 3 months notice or can I give the statutory one week? Is there anything they can do to me if I do leave early?

 

Many thanks

[Gogivit]

Are you an employee of MI5 or MI6, or are you a company CEO?

 

If you are then maybe you should give 3 months notice.

 

If you are not, then advise us what job it is you do then we can advise.

[Guest iolande]

sure - am a variable hour lecturer at a college. Hours can be varied down to 0 by the college and termination is one week on their side. I have to give 3 months notice. Is this okay by law?

[Guest iolande]

another question. If I have a variable hours contract - can I also vary my availability down to 0 hours?

 

The contract guarantees a minimum 10 hours of work a year. As I have already worked that, I wondered if that means I can tell my employer that I am not available for the last couple of weeks and hand in my notice.

 

This is a tricky situation as my contract finishes at the end of the school year and there is no work for me. I have been asked about my availability for the next school year, but no contract will be given until September. That will leave me 3 months without any income.

 

Now a company I have worked for in the past have offered me a job, but they need me to start by 20th of June which is 2 weeks before the end of the educational year. This job is full time that will pay me regularly and given the state of the economy I really need to secure a job as there are whispers in the school that they may not be able to employ any variable hour staff to save money next year.

 

Another angle - my manager is quite lax at putting in my timesheets for the month (He has to fill it in and send to payroll, not me). And often I find that hours are missing off my payslip and I regularly get 'reassured' that they will be paid the following month. We get paid a month after the monthly time sheets are handed in.