Giving less notice than UK Contract requires

Does anyone here have any knowledge of employment laws here? We are planning our move back to the US, and my husband is searching for employment back there. A job he has applied to, and it sounds like they may make an offer, is asking if he can give less than 1month notice (which is what his UK contract specifies). If he only gave a 2week notice, what's the worst that could happen?

Does the contract say anything about what happens if he gives less than the required notice?

Does your husband have any holiday that he can tack on to the notice period to make it nearer to the 4 weeks? If not, I doubt that anything would be done if he can only give 2 week's notice, but he might not get a very good reference.

And then again, depending on what he does, he might be encouraged to leave as soon as he gives notice. I know that happens in some US companies to minimize the potential loss of sensitive information.

He could be in breach of his contract if he gives less than the specified notice.

He can call ACAS for advice: 0845 747 47 47

His contract does specify giving a 4wk/1mo notice.

But what can they realistically do when we are leaving the country?

Unfortunately he doesn't have any further vacation days he can use to extend it.

Wait until they make the offer, and then let them know he needs to give a month's notice.  If they want him, they will wait an extra two weeks.

Did this happen to you the last time you were leaving the UK? I may be misremembering.

Unfortunately, Geeta, it was made abundantly clear that one of the conditions of this offer was that he needs to start by mid-April. The company has a very important event/festival that is the first week of May and they want him to start before that event.

He already told them that it's typical to give 1mo notice here, but they want him to basically break that. It's not ideal, but this is an opportunity hard to pass up.

Maybe some of the information in your previous post will help.

http://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=72804.0#lastPost