What could happen if I dont give the required notice?

Hi
I have a contract which stipulates 3 mths notice term. I tried to argue this at the beginning but was told it was a requirement at management level.... I am just wondering what the likelihood would be if I was to say give 6wks notice instead of the the required 12wks, Could the company potentially sue me? Is it likely that this would happen. I have just been there for over a yr and there has been a lot of people leaving recently and I am afraid that they may "make" me give the required notice because of this. They only changed to 3 months notice a year or so ago....and the people who had left had either been here longer than a yr or were still on probation....

Thanks for responses in advance..

3 months seems alot, one month is more normal. In general, I think when some one hands in their notice, both parties want it to end as quickly as possible with a smooth completion or handover of tasks. If it's possible to do this in the shorter time frame, but they insist on the 3 months, then I would feel they are being unreasonable.

The reality is that there is nothing they can/will do if you bugger off with 2 days notice.

I had a friend who did not work her agreed notice and did not receive any of the holiday pay owed to her as a result of breaking the terms of her ageement. Also took ages for her P45 to come through, that could be unrelated but seemed to be out of spite.

sandrabing said:

I had a friend who did not work her agreed notice and did not receive any of the holiday pay owed to her as a result of breaking the terms of her ageement. Also took ages for her P45 to come through, that could be unrelated but seemed to be out of spite.

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Withholding holiday pay due to a leaver or their P45 is probably unlawful.

lff12 said:

Withholding holiday pay due to a leaver or their P45 is probably unlawful.

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I dont doubt that for a second but nothing was ever done about any of the antics they put their staff through. They went out of business anyway so serves them right

They aren't withholding holiday pay, so much as they are considering your holidays to make up part of your notice period. e.g. If you are due to give a months notice, and give two weeks notice while you have two weeks holiday owing, that two weeks of holiday is included in the notice period to bring it up to the month. Most contracts include a cause that allows this.

Ireland is a small town. You really don't want to leave your current employer on bad terms. You agreed to 3-months notice in the first place, so aim for a negotiated solution.