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Leaving job without notice

Location
southwest
Hi.
If an employee just leaves and doesn't come back can the employer do anything about it?


Do you want a disgruntled "employee" driving your tractor or milking your cows?

Pay them for the hours they worked and move on.

You could let their next employer know they left without notice, but they may counter that with claims about why they left -intolerable working conditions amounting to constructive dismissal. And it's not unknown for employers to offer jobs "on condition you start tomorrow"

Just move on.
 
Location
southwest
Also how do you define "left without notice"?

They might well say they are owed holiday which they have taken in lieu of notice, or they are ill, or if you haven't given them a written contract, they would say there is no defined Notice period.

They might even be/claim to be self employed.


PS: You need to send them a Recorded Delivery letter in a couple of weeks time stating that as they have failed to turn up for work for x days and offered no explanation you are treating it as resignation without notice.
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
Breach of contract utter waste of time chasing. Employees know they can just disappear if they aren’t bothered about references or word getting around
I think the rules say you cannot give a bad reference. You end up saying things like, "you will never know just how lucky you are to get this guy to work for you" you are not allowed to add "he never bloody well worked for me". Word gets around all the same.
 

Lincs Lass

Member
Location
north lincs
I jacked in 2004, right in the middle of spud season ,,everything I knew about ploughing, tatty harvesting had been undermined by the bosses son ,,fresh out of Ag college ,head full of books ,not an ounce experience but thought he knew everything ,,everything except how to part of a team ,,picked his jobs ,,hid at the first sign of hard work .
His dad rounded on me first thing one morning and the pair of them got a load of home truths .
I walked ,didnt care anymore .
 

thorpe

Member
I jacked in 2004, right in the middle of spud season ,,everything I knew about ploughing, tatty harvesting had been undermined by the bosses son ,,fresh out of Ag college ,head full of books ,not an ounce experience but thought he knew everything ,,everything except how to part of a team ,,picked his jobs ,,hid at the first sign of hard work .
His dad rounded on me first thing one morning and the pair of them got a load of home truths .
I walked ,didnt care anymore .
i bet the son had been to harpur!
 

Agri Spec Solicitor

Member
Livestock Farmer
This issue arises every few years in my practice, it is not too common. First question is whether you want the employee back. Good workers are in demand like never before.
Maybe everyone was having a bad day and by the following morning it’s a storm in a teacup.
If there is no patching up then it is usual to write to confirm the departure which is being treated as termination.
If the employee needs to give say 3 months notice and refuses to work the notice then it may well be a breach of contract. But where is the loss? You just get someone else / get in the contractor / all muck in and struggle through. It is different if there are post termination restrictions.
References can be a minefield, they should be true and accurate. Many employers do little more than confirm start and end dates.
 

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Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

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On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

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