Leaving work without notice

I have a zero hour contract if that makes any sence,i get rolled up holiday pay put on to my hourly rate which is £1.04 a hour,dont ask me why it works like this as don't know,i can sit at home for weeks without any work and don't get paid a penny,i can leave right now if i wanted to and they couldn't do nothing about it,just like i can't do nothing about it sitting at home because they have no obligation to guarantee me any hours,if the work is there i get it.now try explaing that to the job centre if i have a few weeks without work,they just look at me like i have two heads:(

Even on a zero hour contract you have a notice period, it is different from giving you work or not, notice period is for termination of your services for that company. I have employees on zero hour contracts, its increseingly common in todays climate.
 
If you haven't signed or verbally agreed to a contract, is it still valid?


Your employer can agree to waive your notice period, out of interest how long have you been employed for as this will determine whether you qualify to make any unfair dismissal claim?

Your employer is obliged to provide you with your statement of particulars within 2 months of your start date, if they fail to do this you can submit a claim to an Employment Tribunal who in the majority of cases will award up to 4 weeks pay as way of compensation.

Alternatively you could hand in your notice and submit a doctors note or self cert to cover your notice period.

Edit: Note that failure to work your statutory/contractual notice period (which ever is the greatest) is a breach of contract on your part. Unlikely that your employer will persue this, however you may want to think about what message this will give your future employers when they seek references.
 
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Edit: Note that failure to work your statutory/contractual notice period (which ever is the greatest) is a breach of contract on your part.

A breach of what contract?

Edit: Ok, so there is this: "Notice you must give your employer

If you have worked for your employer for one month or more, the legal minimum amount of notice you must give is one week." (http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/RedundancyAndLeavingYourJob/Resigningorretiring/DG_175837)

I guess with no dated/signed contract, it could be difficult for them to prove when you started (depending how you are paid?)

Even on a zero hour contract you have a notice period, it is different from giving you work or not, notice period is for termination of your services for that company. I have employees on zero hour contracts, its increseingly common in todays climate.

This is a bit of a grey area I feel.

While the employer is entitled to not give the employee a certain number of hours of work, the employee is equally entitled to refuse any work which they are given. After all, they are not contractually obligated to work a particular number of hours. (Of course if you actually wanted the work/money, you'd be pretty stupid to refuse)

So, while technically you need to give a notice period, you could just give your notice, and then refuse any work after that point.

Of course, I realise, that while this may not be the case with all zero-hour contracts, in all the ones I've worked under it has been.
 
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If i won the lottery i'd just stop turning up to work, why would i work another day if i've got millions in the bank?
 
Doesn't sound like they would get a good reference anyway so nothing to lose there!

Yep, just give a weeks notice then go self cert :)
 
Should always give notice to your employer.

If you burn bridges and treat them like crap, do not be surprised if they act the same way back.
 
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