Work contract and notice period.

Is there anyway of not honouring the notice period as specified in a work contract? My period of notice required is unusally long and it will hinder me if looking for another position. I did sign the contract and was aware of extra long notice period when I did so. (If only I knew then what I know now!)

Yes, of course you don't have to honour it, like any contract, but your employer may (if he thinks it's worth the hassle and expense) sue you for breach.

Trafford said:

but your employer may (if he thinks it's worth the hassle and expense) sue you for breach.

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Which he probably won't. OTOH if a prospective employer rings him to get the 'real' reference - the one that's verbal and so isn't recorded anywhere- he'll hear about it.

Thanks for the replies. The fact the my employer requires an extra long period notice should have rang some alarm bells in the begining. Would I be outragous if I asked for a new work contract? I doubt if I'll get. I made a mistake taking this job and I dont want to mess things up even more by having a bad reference following me.

People are obsessed about working their notice or not. The worst that can happen is as follows

1. The company takes you to the Labour Relations Commission under the Minimum notice and terms of employment Act. The Rights Commissioner will find in their favour as you have not worked your notice. The company will be awarded no money however. I have never heard of a company taking a case to the LRC - there simply is no point.

2. The company will most likely give you a poor reference or not give you a reference at all. If you don't care about this, walk now.

By the way before the pedeantic pats point this out, they can also get an injuction against you in the High Court but this will cost them a fortune in legal fees. They would also win this

Art said:

By the way before the pedeantic pats point this out, they can also get an injuction against you in the High Court

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Help me out here, Art, please. Can't find 'pedeantic' in the dictionary. What's it mean? Also, what's an 'injuction'?