What notice is an employee entitled to?
Under the terms of current legislation an employee who has been continuously employed for less than 26 weeks will normally be entitled to receive a period of at least one week’s statutory notice to terminate his/her employment, unless there is a contractual obligation to give a greater period of notice which will take precedence. If a worker has been continuously employed for 26 weeks to two years he/she will normally be entitled to receive a statutory notice period of at least two weeks to terminate his/her employment. Again any contractual obligation for a greater period takes precedence. Notice required further increases with length of service as follows: Two years continuous employment or more but less than five requires not less than four weeks. Five years or more but less than ten years requires not less than 8 weeks. Ten years or more but less than fifteen requires not less than twelve weeks notice and fifteen years or more, not less than sixteen weeks notice. Again greater periods specified in an employment contract take precedence.
The law allows the employer to specify a shorter period on notice (than 1 week) during the first 4 weeks of service only.
Employers who do not require workers to work out all or part of the notice period should make an ’in lieu of notice’ payment to compensate them for the consequent loss of all contractual benefits, including pay. Such a payment will normally be equivalent to an ’out of court’ payment equal to the employee’s damages for not being allowed to work out the notice period. However, in many circumstances a worker may be expected to attempt to mitigate this loss, which can mean that any earnings received from other work undertaken during the notice period may be taken into consideration when establishing what, if any, damages the worker is entitled to. As this is a question which can ultimately only be answered by the Tribunal or a Court, you are strongly advised to seek a qualified legal opinion for guidance or initially to seek advice from JACS.
What notice are employers entitled to from their employees?
Under the terms of current legislation an employee who has been continuously employed for more than 26 weeks should give at least two weeks’ statutory notice to terminate his/her employment and this increases to 4 weeks’ notice after 5 years’ service. The employment contract can specify a greater period of notice which will take precedence.
The Employment (Jersey) Law 2003 does not specify any statutory minimum period for employees with less than 26 weeks notice, but a suitable period can be specified in the employment contract.
Please see JACS guidance notes for more information