Before I give you advice on the contract you have with your employer you should know that I am not a lawyer, I don't have legal training and that if you follow my advice and suffer losses, I am not open to being held liable... This refers to my experience within the law of England and Wales.

You can get excellent, free legal advice from ACAS. Lots of information on their website, and even a free helpline where you can get personal legal advice on employment law matters.

What I do know is that many people do not seem to know the law and their rights when it comes to notice periods.

If you don't have a contract (legally your employer is required to provide you with one, but many do not), then the law assumes a 'standard' contract based upon your basic employment rights, which gives you a notice period of one month. Otherwise you will have a notice-period defined in your contract.

The idea is that the notice period defines the length of time you will be paid for if one side decides to legally end the contract. This period cannot be shortened without both you and your employer agreeing. So if they try and force you to leave sooner than your notice period you are still entitled to the full payment for the notice period, and they cannot force you to agree to a shorter notice period.

Equally, if you decide you want a shorter notice period and they do not agree to it, they can theoretically sue you for breach of contract if you do not work out your notice. They are completely entitled to do so, but in practice, because of the expense involved and the very low chance of getting any compensation off you, there are very few cases of employers suing ex-employees over this (unless you owe them money and refuse to pay).

So this comes down to contractual law. Now - even if you detest your current employer it is never useful to burn bridges (you meet the same people on the way down that you met on the way up). Thus, the best route is *always* to have a conversation to get to a mutually-agreeable solution.

The case-law from employment tribunals that I'm aware of suggests that very long notice periods (more than a month) are not generally up-held by tribunals unless you are seriously important in your organisation. Even at the very senior management level, three months' notice might be seen as excessive by a tribunal. Again, this is useful as a bargaining chip, but the best attitude to go in with is one where you seek to find mutual agreement and leave on good terms (or at least not leaving on bad terms).

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