2 staff have left without notice - anything i can do?

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

unwashed potato!

Soldato
Joined
12 Feb 2006
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Surrey
i'm pretty much of the view that what's done is done with this, i'll learn my lessons and move on, but wanted to quickly ask on here to see if there is any clear chance of us getting anything back.

so to briefly explain the story.

I had 2 full time members of staff who were paid on the 1st of each month for the month previous, so when they get paid they are now owed nothing, they are not behind 10 days etc as i will now change it to be in the future.

after they got paid they have done a runner, leaving me completely screwed with work. I've had to cancel thousands of pounds worth of work last minute, leaving a bad reputation as well as a lot of lost money over out busy period.

they gave no notice, just a text on the day from one of the employees that they wont be coming back for a while, and now today i have got another text saying it will be a long while before they're back if ever.

i'm taking this as they've left and will rehire, but i'm gutted the way they've dealt with this. I had suspected they may do this mid last month, but gave them the benefit of the doubt as i've done a lot for them over the time they've been with me, one 11 months, the other 5 (so she is still on a trial period any way), so hoped they'd give me the respect to warn me if they're leaving. they didn't and not i'm suffering.

they are paid by bank transfer which has already been done on the 30/06 as i was up to date with accounts do managed to do payroll a day early.

it's in their contract they need to give 4 weeks notice, else if they don't we can look to recover the costs.

as they aren't owed any more money, i can't unfortunately recover it through their wage.

is there perhaps a way i can get the bank to reverse the payments?

or perhaps sue for the 4 weeks pay they now owe for leaving early?
 
Perhaps look at why the staff turnover seems so high? One member of staff walking out is unfortunate, but two suggests there are issues and your 'how do I penalise people' approach to this is perhaps an insight into these issues..
 
They are paid at the end of the month for the months work they have just completed?
So they do not owe you a months pay, is this correct?
You haven't paid them a week in advance?
 
You wouldn't have been able to recover it from their wages anyway, two separate issues.

You would have had to pay them for what they worked and sue them separately for any losses occurred for them leaving without notice. Courts will award damages

Such damages would normally be for additional costs incurred arranging alternative staff (such as agency costs) and any loss of profit suffered as a result of the failure to work the notice period. How hard or easy it is to prove such loss will depend very much on the nature of your business and the job the employee did but in all circumstances you are under a duty to take reasonable steps to keep your losses to a minimum.

Which is why most employers end up not suing staff who leave without notice.
 
[TW]Fox;29733308 said:
Perhaps look at why the staff turnover seems so high? One member of staff walking out is unfortunate, but two suggests there are issues and your 'how do I penalise people' approach to this is perhaps an insight into these issues..
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This is a valid point worth considering.
 
Iirc you can only possibly recover the difference between their cost and the cost of temp so if you're paying them £10 per hour and a temp costs you £15 your claim is £5 per hour.
 
So what's the reason they left? I would happily leave exactly like they did if I hated my job, my boss, and felt like I wanted to make it hard for them like they have for me.

Unless they had no complaints about anything ever and seemed happy with their job?
 
maccapacca said:
Iirc you can only possibly recover the difference between their cost and the cost of temp so if you're paying them £10 per hour and a temp costs you £15 your claim is £5 per hour.
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Not quite right. You have to do everything within your power to mitigate your losses. If that meant hiring temps at double the money then so be it. Then you could just claim the difference between what you would have paid them and the temps.

However, perhaps in his industry, it was impossible to get staff at short notice (he will have to show the court that he couldn't) or there was nobody qualified available then if because of that he had to cancel a contract then he would be entitled the lost profit on the contract.

I can think of some circumstances where you might not be able to get staff at short notice. We used to work on a chemicals site and all contractors had to got through a 3 day site safety induction before they could work there. If two of your staff left the day before the job was due to start, chances are you wouldnt find temps at short notice who had gone through the induction.
 
Greebo said:
Not quite right. You have to do everything within your power to mitigate your losses. If that meant hiring temps at double the money then so be it. Then you could just claim the difference between what you would have paid them and the temps.

However, perhaps in his industry, it was impossible to get staff at short notice (he will have to show the court that he couldn't) or there was nobody qualified available then if because of that he had to cancel a contract then he would be entitled the lost profit on the contract.
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This is all wonderful theory but in practice you'll end up with nothing I'd imagine.
 
[TW]Fox;29733308 said:
Perhaps look at why the staff turnover seems so high? One member of staff walking out is unfortunate, but two suggests there are issues and your 'how do I penalise people' approach to this is perhaps an insight into these issues..
Click to expand...

I wonder why no interest in why they left.
 
Fairly sure the answer is no said:
is there perhaps a way i can get the bank to reverse the payments?

or perhaps sue for the 4 weeks pay they now owe for leaving early?
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you don't get to not pay them for work they've already done, same to you chaining things to pay people with a 10 day delay moving forwards - if you withhold wages then it isn't going to look good at an employment tribunal.

Yes you can look to recover costs from them but it tends not to be worth while to do so.
 
[TW]Fox;29733456 said:
This is all wonderful theory but in practice you'll end up with nothing I'd imagine.
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Oh with all the time you have to put in and a day in court not working and you only get your profit at most or maybe £5 an hour difference to a temp then most employers never bother pursuing it.

If somebody leaving without notice and it could be shown they lost you a £1m job with £200k profit then go for it.
 
maccapacca said:
Surely the best way to poo in a letterbox is backwards?
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Pretty sure any of these would suffice ?

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